Carnival Corp, the world’s largest cruise operator, on Tuesday signed a memorandum of agreement with German and Finnish shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku to deliver three additional cruise ships that will be fully powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The shipbuilding agreements are subject to several conditions, including satisfactory financing, Carnival said in a statement.
Carnival said two of the new LNG-powered ships are designated for the cruise brand, Carnival Cruise Line, and will be built by Meyer Turku at its shipyard in Turku, Finland, with delivery dates expected in 2020 and 2022.
The new ship for P&O Cruises UK will be built by Meyer Werft at its shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, with an expected delivery date in 2020.
In conjunction with the order, the delivery dates for the new builds for Germany-based AIDA Cruises and Italy-based Costa Cruises for 2020 will shift to 2021 to allow the company to more “effectively allocate measured capacity growth across its 10 global cruise brands in more markets throughout the world.”
In total, the company now has agreements in place to build seven LNG-powered cruise ships across four of its 10 global cruise brands in coming years. As previously announced, the first of these ships is expected to be in service for AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises in 2019.
“Based on Carnival Corporation’s next-generation “green cruising” ship design, these new vessels will be part of the first generation of cruise ships to be fully powered by LNG, which is an industry first and an environmental breakthrough that will produce the most efficient ships in the company’s history.”
These new ships will use LNG to generate 100 percent of the ship’s power both in port and on the open sea – an innovation that will significantly reduce exhaust emissions to help protect the environment and support the company’s aggressive sustainability goals, Carnival said in the statement.
As part of its fleet enhancement plan, Carnival Corporation has already taken delivery of three new ships in 2016 for its AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line and Holland America Line brands, and plans to launch the all-new Seabourn Encore in December 2016.
Including Seabourn Encore and the three new ships announced today for Carnival Cruise Line and P&O Cruises UK, Carnival Corporation has a total of 18 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and 2022.