Ship&Offshore | Issue 02/2017
Start of construction
About 100 guests have attended the steel-cutting ceremony for the first next-generation AIDA cruise vessel at building yard Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany. It will be the first cruise vessel that can run entirely on liquefied natural gas (LNG) while at sea. Main engines of the type 16 M 46 DF will be supplied by Caterpillar Marine. The 183,000gt vessel will be 337m long and 42m wide. It will have 2,500 cabins and will feature highest ecological standards, representatives from Meyer Werft and AIDA said. Upon its delivery at the end of 2018, the 13th vessel in AIDA’s fleet will be sailing around the Canary Islands and Madeira on seven-day voyages. The contract, for a total of four LNG-powered cruise vessels for mother company Carnival Corporation, was announced in the summer of 2015. AIDAPerla , the sister vessel of the AIDAprima and the second ship built in Japan by Mitsubishi, will be christened in June in Palma de Mallorca. “We are very pleased that we can break new technological ground with AIDA in this way. AIDA and Carnival now lead the way for establishing LNG as the fuel of the future,” said Tim Meyer, CEO at Meyer Werft.