AIDA Cruises: Start of Construction for the Second LNG Cruise Ship at the Meyer Werft Shipyard in Papenburg
As early as 2023, half of all AIDA guests will be sailing on ships operated with low-emission liquefied natural gas.
PAPENBURG, Germany and ROSTOCK, Germany, August 28, 2019 /3BL Media/ — On August 15, 2019, the first steel cut took place at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg for the sister ship of AIDAnova, the world’s first cruise ship that is fully powered with low-emission liquefied natural gas (LNG). Just recently, AIDA Cruises was awarded the Blue Angel, the German Federal Government’s ecolabel for AIDAnova’s environmentally friendly ship design.
With the official start of construction for the second ship of this innovative AIDA ship generation to be put into service in spring 2021, the company is continuing its course and making a further contribution to reduced emissions in cruising. As early as 2023, the third LNG cruise ship of AIDA Cruises, “Made in Germany,” will set sail. Through the use of LNG emissions of particulate matter and sulfur oxides are almost completely eliminated, nitrogen oxide and CO2 emissions are sustainably reduced.
AIDA President Felix Eichhorn said, “By 2023, around half of all AIDA guests will be sailing on our state-of-the-art LNG ships that stand apart with many further technical innovations for greater efficiency, less fuel consumption and conserved resources. At the same time, we are offering our guests on board our ships an extraordinary variety of individual vacation options, innovative entertainment and culinary concepts that provide lasting impulses to the vacation market in Germany.”
With an investment of around two billion euros just for the construction of both ships in Germany, the company is contributing to the economy and to the creation of secure jobs in the shipbuilding and maritime supply industry.
AIDA Cruises is also a trailblazer in many other areas that contribute to the energy transition. By the end of 2020, twelve of fourteen AIDA ships will be equipped for shoreside energy from renewable sources. Parallel to this, AIDA Cruise is currently exploring the use of fuel cells, batteries and liquefied gas from renewable sources in cruising. The company plans to test the first fuel cell unit on board an AIDA vessel in 2021.
AIDA Cruises:
AIDA Cruises is Germany’s leading cruise line and currently employs around 15,000 people from over 50 countries, 13,500 on board its 13 ships and 1,500 at the company headquarters in Rostock and Hamburg. After putting AIDAnova, the world’s first cruise ship that can be fully powered with low-emission LNG, into service in December 2018, the company will build two more of these innovative ships by 2023. By the end of 2023, ninety-four percent of all AIDA guests will be sailing on ships that can be fully powered with low-emission LNG or, where possible, green shoreside energy at port.
Technical data:
Shipyard: Meyer Werft, Papenburg (Germany)
First steel cut: August 15, 2019
Commissioning: Spring 2021
Length: 337 meters
Width: 42 meters
Max. draft: 8.80 m
Gross tonnage: 183,900 GT
Decks: 20
Number of staterooms: 2,600
Crew: approx. 1,500
