Carnival Corporation orders four new cruise ships

The contract with Meyer Werft is part of larger previously announced strategic memo of understanding with leading shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Italian Fincantieri SpA for nine new ship orders between 2019 and 2022. The company said two of the ships will be manufactured for AIDA Cruises at Meyer Werft's shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. The other two vessels will be built at Meyer Turku, Finland. Additional information about the ships will be made available at a later date.
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 on board and used to generate 100% power at sea. Using LNG to power the ships in port and at sea is said to eliminate emissions of soot particles and sulphur oxides.
Based on Carnival Corporation’s innovative new ship design, each of the four next-generation 180,000-gt ships will have a total capacity of 6,600 guests, feature more than 5,000 lower berths and incorporate an extensive number of guest-friendly features. A major part of the innovative design involves making much more efficient use of the ship's spaces, creating an enhanced onboard experience for guests, the travel and leisure company said.
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.
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 programme, and we look forward to building these four groundbreaking ships”.
Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku, added: “This order is very important for us at Turku yard, since it provides us and our specialised 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.”