LNG maritime: named AIDAnova cruise first in the world. A new Viking ferry under construction

• 04 Sep 2018

AIDA Cruises, a Carnival Corporation cruise company, held a naming ceremony for the world’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled cruise ship. The naming ceremony of the cruise vessel AIDAnova took place next weed-end at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, attended by 25,000 spectators, according to a statement by AIDA. At the end of September AIDAnova will be going on her first short trip, setting sail for Eemshaven in the Netherlands for final fit-out and sea trials.

AIDA will take over the new LNG-fueled ship from the Meyer Werft shipyard on November 15 in Bremerhaven, the statement reads. AIDAnova is the world’s first cruise ship that can be powered by LNG both at sea and in port.  Two further AIDA ships of this new generation will be built by 2023 – also at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg.

Construction has begun on Viking Line’s new liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered passenger cruise ship at the Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry shipyard in China. The vessel, scheduled for delivery at the end 2020 will be deployed on the Turku (Finland)–Åland Islands–Stockholm (Sweden) route.

Viking Line’s new vessel will be 218 meters in length and have a gross registered tonnage of about 63,000 tons. Passenger capacity will be 2,800 people, and the length of its cargo lanes will be 1,500 meters. The new vessel will be larger than LNG-fueled cruise ferry Viking Grace, but it is expected to consume up to 10 percent less fuel than the company’s first LNG ferry, according to Viking Line.