Karl WP Beyer August 16, 2019 - Yesterday, the first steel cut in the burning center of the MEYER shipyard in Papenburg marked the official start of construction of thesecond ship of the innovative AIDA LNG ship generation. The new building, measured at 183.900 GT and 337 meters long, will be available for the cruise market in spring 2021. AIDA Cruises and the Carnival Group behind it will invest around two billion euros in two new ships in the following years.
A few days ago the Rostock shipping company was awarded the “Blue Angel” for the environmentally friendly ship design of the AIDAnova. With this mega cruise ship, which came into service at the end of 2018, AIDA Cruises is operating a largely emission-free cruise ship. Thanks to the use of LNG liquefied natural gas, emissions of fine dust and sulfur oxides are almost completely avoided, and nitrogen oxide and CO2 emissions are noticeably reduced.
AIDAnova in the port of Funchal
AIDA Cruises continue to invest in low-emission ships. The ship under construction will go into service in spring 2021. A third ship in this class is planned for 2023. The shipping company explains that in 2023 around half of all AIDA guests will travel on modern LNG ships. During the development and construction of the current ship class, the focus was primarily on the following areas:
- Energy efficiency,
- Heat recovery,
- innovative electric motors,
- LED lighting,
- Ship automation and glazing with a focus on energy efficiency,
- Optimized and biocide-free underwater paints to reduce drag, weight optimization in the selection of materials.
AIDA Cuises - first steel cut of the new LNG ship © AIDA Cruises
As far as the current fleet of ships is concerned, AIDA Cruises has determined that twelve out of fourteen AIDA ships will be able to use shore power by the end of 2020. AIDA Cruises also deals with the use of fuel cells, batteries or liquefied gas from renewable sources in cruise shipping. In 2021 the company will test the first fuel cell on board an AIDA ship in practice.
A sign of the climate change? There is cause for hope.
