EMEA News
Sign of the Times for Cruise Industry as Carnival Hails its In-Port LNG Use at Hamburg
In a sign of the changing times for the cruise industry, Carnival Corporation & plc (Carnival) has hailed its in-port use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for two vessels berthed in the Port of Hamburg.
Last Saturday the AIDAprima - which as previously reported by Ship & Bunker last week became the first cruise ship to operate on LNG bunker in port - was bunkered by an LNG truck at the cruise terminal in Steinwerder.
At the same time its AIDAsol vessel plugged into the Hummel, an LNG-powered cold ironing barge.
"This is an important contribution to environmental protection, because compared to the use of conventional marine diesel with 0.1 percent sulfur content emissions and particle discharge will be significantly reduced by using LNG" said Carnival.
"Following AIDAprima's first successful LNG-supply trial run in Hamburg on May 7, 2016, this week the new flagship of the cruise company AIDA Cruises also completed its first LNG operation at the ports of Southampton, Le Havre and Zeebrügge."
While low oil prices have cooled interest in the adoption of LNG bunkers in a number of sectors, Carnival's latest news is a reminder that the Cruise industry appears to be very much backing the alternative bunkers.
Last year Carnival announced it would build four mega-cruise ships and power them using LNG, and earlier this year MSC Cruises said it too would build four huge cruise ships to rival Royal Caribbean's Oasis Class - currently the biggest in the world - and power them with LNG.
