AIDAperla, the youngest member of the AIDA Cruises fleet, reached the port of Barcelona via the western Mediterranean, on June 7, as part of its “Welcome Cruises”, to support Barcelona’s environmental efforts. Before summer, the ship is going to be supplied with low-emission liquefied natural gas (LNG) while she is docked in the port, to reduce its emissions.
During AIDAperla’s maiden season, Europe’s cruise capital is, alongside Palma de Mallorca, one of the start and end ports for her seven-day cruises in the western Mediterranean.
Since her twin ship AIDAprima has already been provided with LNG in all five ports of her Northern Europe cruises since May 2016, AIDAperla will be the second cruise ship worldwide that, thanks to a dual fuel engine, will be able to produce onboard power from LNG while docked – accounting for some 40 percent of her operating time. The requirement for this is the availability of LNG in the respective port. AIDA Cruises is also discussing this issue with other Mediterranean ports.
In addition, thanks to the completion of the Carnival Group’s new cruise terminal, for the first time six ships from the AIDA fleet will be stopping at Barcelona on their cruises through the Mediterranean. The plan is specifically geared to the operation of the next generation of ships that are entirely powered with LNG. The first ship of this generation, AIDAnova, will be commissioned in fall 2018.
From 2021, AIDA Cruises will be the world’s first cruise company capable of powering its new generation of ships entirely with LNG (liquefied natural gas).
