Carnival Corporation Begins Construction of LNG Powered Cruise Ship

Carnival Corporation announced today the official beginning of construction for the first of its seven next-generation cruise ships that will be fully-powered by liquefied natural gas with a keel-laying ceremony at Seatrade Europe in Hamburg.

These new ships can use LNG to generate 100 percent of their power both in port and on the open sea. The seven ships, with delivery dates between 2018 and 2022, will be built by German and Finnish shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku.

"Today marked a significant milestone in the construction of this next-generation of Carnival Corporation ships featuring our 'green cruising' design, which will be the most environmentally friendly ships in our company's history," said Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation. "We are committed to continuing to reduce air emissions and improving air quality by evaluating both new and established solutions, including LNG. We are proud to be on the forefront of advancing LNG as a fuel source for the cruise industry, and we appreciate our long-standing partnership with Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku.”

Following the introduction of AIDAnova in 2018, Carnival Corporation's Costa Cruises brand will debut the industry's next cruise ship that can be powered completely by LNG on the open seas in 2019 – the first steel-cutting ceremony for this ship is scheduled at the Meyer Turku shipyard in the coming week. LNG-powered ships for Carnival Cruise Line and P&O Cruises (UK) will follow in 2020. Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises will each receive an additional LNG-powered ship in 2021, followed by an additional LNG-powered ship for Carnival Cruise Line in 2022.

In October 2016, Carnival Corporation signed a framework agreement with Shell to be its supplier of marine LNG to power the first two of its new LNG ships for AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises with itineraries visiting popular European ports. As part of the agreement, the ships will utilize Shell's infrastructure in cruise ports to refuel with LNG throughout their itineraries. The vessels, equipped with dual-fuel engines, are the first of a new generation of cruise ships fully powered by LNG both while in port and at sea – an industry first and an environmental breakthrough that will improve air quality with cleaner emissions.