Carnival Orders Two Ships from Meyer Turku

 

Carnival Corporation & plc, Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku today announced a multi-billion Euro contract for four 180,000 gross ton large next-generation cruise ships.  The ships will feature a revolutionary “green cruising” design and will be the first-ever cruise ships powered at sea by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). 

Two of the ships will be built for AIDA Cruises at Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany and two further ships will be built at Meyer Turku, Finland. With these orders, Meyer Turku has secured a long term order book until 2020 – providing a stable and increasing work load that allows the yard and the Finnish maritime cluster to develop themselves.
 
Pioneering a new era in the use of sustainable fuels, the four new ships will be the first in the cruise industry to use LNG in dual-powered hybrid engines to power the ship both in port and on the open sea. LNG will be stored onboard and used to generate 100 percent power at sea – producing another industry-first innovation for Carnival Corporation and its brands. Using LNG to power the ships in port and at sea will eliminate emissions of soot particles and sulfur oxides.

A major part of the innovative design, created in co-operation by Carnival Corporation, Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku, involves making much more efficient use of the ship's spaces and thus creating an enhanced on-board experience for guests. As a result the highly optimized new ship design will feature the largest guest capacity ever on a cruise ship with a total capacity of 6,600 guests and more than 5,000 lower berths. It will exceed 180,000 gross tons and incorporate an extensive number of guest-friendly features. Each ship will be specifically designed and developed for the respective cruise line brand.

Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald said the contract is consistent with the company’s measured capacity growth strategy to replace ships with less efficient capacity with newer, larger and more fuel efficient vessels over time.

"We are looking forward to executing on the next step in our fleet enhancement plan," said Donald. "At a cost per berth in line with our existing order book, these new ships will enhance the return profile of our fleet. These are exceptionally efficient ships with incredible cabins and public spaces featuring a design inspired by Micky Arison and Michael Thamm and developed by our new build teams." Arison is chairman of the board of directors for Carnival Corporation & plc and Thamm is CEO of the Costa Group, which includes AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises.

Bernard Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft, commented: “In past years, we have built seven highly successful ships for AIDA Cruises. We are honored that Carnival Corporation has entrusted us with the implementation of this ambitious shipbuilding program, and we look forward to building these four ground breaking ships”.

Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku added: “This order is very important for us at Turku yard, since it provides us and our specialized maritime subcontractors with the long sought-after stability that allows us all to develop and improve our operations. With these ships we are again pushing the limits in many respects. Thus we can and need to use the newly gained long-term stability to prepare ourselves well in order to meet the demands of these challenging projects. For this reason we are working to improve our processes, planning our next investments in the yard facilities and continuing to strengthen ourselves by select recruitings.”