Costa Cruises announced another milestone for its Costa Smeralda, Costa’s first ship powered by LNG (liquefied natural gas), with an LNG bunkering operation performed successfully on Sunday, October 25 for the very first time in Italy.
Carried out in Port La Spezia and completed at 6:00 pm, the operation was supported by Port Authority of Eastern Ligurian Sea, Italian Coast Guard, local authorities, and Shell, which is Costa Group's LNG supplier partner.
The operation took place with the cruise ship berthed at the “Molo Garibaldi” pier, where the bunkering Coral Methane ship was positioned alongside Smeralda, under the supervision of Italy's Coast Guard and in coordination with the parties involved and the crew members of Costa Smeralda and Coral Methane.
Smeralda is the first LNG-powered cruise ship in the Costa fleet. She will be followed by Costa Toscana, a sistership planned for delivery in 2021-Q4. Another LNG ship, AIDAnova, has been operating within the fleet of Costa Group since 2018 and will be followed by other two sisterships by 2023.
As part of the Carnival Corporation fleet, a 3rd LNG-powered ship, P&O Cruises' Iona, was recently delivered.
The marine industry’s most advanced fuel technology to improve air emissions and eliminate sulfur significantly improves overall air emissions with the elimination of sulfur dioxide emissions (zero emissions) and a 95-100% reduction in particulate matter. LNG's use also significantly reduces emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide by 20% and 85%, respectively.