Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg kicked off the construction of the world’s first LNG-powered cruise ship for AIDA cruises with the steel cutting ceremony on Tuesday, February 21.
The vessels, with a size in excess of 180,000 gross tons and around 2,500 cabins each will strengthen the AIDA fleet in the fall of 2018 and spring 2021 respectively.
The first ship will start cruises to the Canaries from December 2018, AIDA Cruises said in a statement, adding that more details on the vessels will be revealed over the coming months.
Carnival Corporation, AIDA Cruises parent company, signed a construction contract with Meyer Werft in June 2015.
According to Carnival Corporation 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.