LNG-powered AIDAperla arrives in Barcelona

Carnival Corporation, AIDA Cruises’ parent company, said the second LNG-powered ferry, the AIDAperla arrived in Barcelona. 

The vessel, delivered by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in April, will be christened in Palma de Mallorca at the end of this month.

AIDAperla will dock 31 times in the port of Barcelona where it will be supplied with liquefied natural gas (LNG).

AIDAprima, the company’s first vessel in the LNG-powered series has already been provided with LNG in all five ports of her Northern Europe cruises since May 2016. AIDAperla will be the second cruise ship that will be able to produce onboard power from LNG while docked.

However, the requirement for this is the availability of LNG in the respective port, and AIDA Cruises is also discussing this issue with other Mediterranean ports.

Carnival Group is investing a total of around €30 million ($33.5 million) in a cruise terminal in Barcelona, which has an area of some 12,500 m² and is specifically geared to the operation of the next generation of ships that are entirely powered with LNG. The first ship of this generation, AIDAnova, will be commissioned in fall 2018.