Costa Cruises christens 2nd LNG-powered cruise ship

Italian cruise line Costa Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation, has christened its second cruise ship, Costa Toscana, powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).

As informed, the christening ceremony of the vessel, which was delivered to the company last December, took place in Barcelona on 16 June. The 185,000 GT cruise ship successfully passed seas trials in October last year to verify the proper functioning of systems, equipment, and LNG engines. Its maiden voyage started from Italy in March this year.

The ship features several technological innovations designed to reduce its environmental impact. All daily water needs are met by transforming the water of the sea through the use of desalinators.

Energy consumption is minimized through an intelligent energy efficiency system. In addition, 100% of separated collection and recycling of materials such as plastic, paper, glass and aluminum are carried out on board.

Through the use of LNG as a fuel, the firm hopes to eliminate almost completely the emission of sulfur oxides and particulates (95-100% reduction) into the atmosphere, while also significantly lowering emissions of nitrogen oxide (direct reduction of 85%) and CO2 (up to 20%).

The Costa Group, which includes the Italian brand Costa Cruises and the German brand AIDA Cruises, was the first in the world in the cruise industry to use liquefied natural gas and can currently count on four ships powered by this technology: the AIDAnova, Costa Smeralda, Costa Toscana and AIDACosma.

To further bolster its net-zero ambitions, the group has recently established a decarbonisation department.

The effort will have a strong focus on research and development, energy management and data analytics to develop the roadmap that will lead to zero-emission ship operations.

As a priority, the newly created department will work to further improve the environmental performance of the existing fleet, working in synergy with the Sustainability Departments of the Costa and AIDA brands.

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