Costa Smeralda wraps up LNG propulsion test

Costa Smeralda, the newly built cruise vessel for Costa Cruises, a Carnival Corporation company, has completed its technical sea trials with liquefied natural gas (LNG). 

The Costa Smeralda is, in fact, the second cruise ship in the world, after AIDAnova, which is also part of the Costa Group fleet, to use this fuel, both in port and at sea.

During the sea trials, which began on Saturday 16 November, the ship carried out a series of tests to verify the correct operation of systems, equipment and engines with LNG propulsion, Costa Cruises said in its statement.

Once the sea trials were finished, the ship returned to the Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland, to complete the interior layout.

To remind, the vessel bunkered liquefied natural gas at the Meyer Turku yard when Gasum’s LNG bunker vessel Coralius conducted ship-to-ship bunkering.