- Carnival Corp orders two 5,200-capacity ships
- LNG powered for lower emissions
- To be built in Turku
- Also offers 5,200 capacity ship for P&O
Carnival has ordered two new cruise ships from Germany’s Meyer-Werft in Papenburg and Finland’s Meyer-Turku shipyards, to become the largest in the line’s fleet.
Carnival’s two 5,200-capacity ships, similar in size to Royal’s Oasis and MSC’s Meraviglia class, will be built in Turku and will be delivered in 2020 and 2022. They will be the first in North America to be powered by liquefied natural gas which helps cut exhaust emissions.
It also ordered a third 5,200-passenger LNG-powered ship for P&O to be constructed in Papenburg and launch in 2020,
The three orders are significantly larger than 3,936-passenger Carnival Vista, which was built by Fincantieri in Trieste launched this year. The similar size Carnival Horizon will launch in 2018.
Carnival Corp, the parent body for 10 cruise line brands and 100 ships, has 21pc of the world’s market share of cruise passengers and 8pc of revenue. It placed an order with the same shipbuilder last year for four additional LNG-powered vessels.
Two are for German cruise line AIDA and two for Italian cruise line Costa. The company said delivery dates for the new builds for AIDA and Italy Costa for 2020 will shift to 2021 to allow the company to more effectively allocate measured capacity growth across its 10 global cruise brands in more markets throughout the world.
Carnival Corp have ordered nine new cruise ships over a four-year period from 2019 to 2022, expected to be assigned to brands based on market demand and a new Chinese brand could be in the cards.
