Whilst MacGregor is not disclosing the yard names it states they will be the first cruise ships powered by liquified natural gas suggesting the equipment is for the four 180,000gt Costa group vessels under construction at Meyer Werft for AIDA(two) and another pair at Meyer Turku for Costa Cruises. Delivery is in 2019 (one a piece for each line) and the other two in 2020.
'Cruise ships operate in some of the world's most fragile ecosystems and a rising demand from both authorities and operators requires that onboard systems are as environmentally-friendly as possible,' says Lars Öberg, sales manager, RoRo at MacGregor.
'Our extensive portfolio of electrically-driven equipment is ideally suited to this ship type,' continues Öberg. 'The greatest environmental benefits of electric drives are the elimination of potentially polluting hydraulic oil leaks and the fact that, on average, electric drives consume up to 30% less energy than their hydraulic equivalents.'
