MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Costa Cruises will incorporate four new ships, including the first powered by LNG

In October 2019, the cruise line will welcome the flagship Costa Smeralda, the first cruise ship for the world market powered by Lng, built by Meyer shipyards

Costa Crociere to welcome four new cruise ships by 2021. Between 2019 and 2021 four new ships will enter service with the Italian cruise line, based in Genoa, Italy, for an overall increase in passenger capacity of 43%. In February 2019, the company will welcome the new Costa Venezia, currently under construction at the Fincantieri plant in Monfalcone.

In October 2019, the cruise line will welcome the flagship Costa Smeralda, the first cruise ship for the world market powered by Lng, built by Meyer shipyards in Turku (Finland). Lastly, in 2020, the sister ship of Costa Venezia will arrive – its construction has just begun in the Fincantieri di Marghera plant – a ship with 135,500 tons and 2,116 cabins, while in 2021 the sister ship of Costa Smeralda will be inaugurated.

The fleet innovation program also includes, from March 2019, the re-entry into the Mediterranean of Costa Fortuna, a ship currently engaged in Asia, which will offer one-week cruises from Genoa.

At the end of 2019 Costa neoRiviera will move to the fleet of AIDA Cruises, the German brand of the Costa Group. The ship, after the renovation work, will be renamed AID Amira and will leave for its first cruise on 4 December 2019 from Palma de Mallorca.

Furthermore, on March 30, 2018, Costa Victoria has returned to operate regularly in the Mediterranean, after being subjected to renovation work worth €11 million, carried out in the ship yards of Marseilles. The main upgrades concerned the cabins, the public internal areas and the external ones. During the next summer season the ship will offer a one-week itinerary dedicated to the beaches and fun of the Balearic islands and Spain.

Based on this growth program, Costa fleet ship number will rise to 17 in 2021, compared to the current 14. Overall, the Costa Group can currently count on seven new ships on order, for a total investment of over six billion Euros.

In addition to the four new ships of Costa Crociere there are in fact three new ships on Lng for the fleet of AIDA Cruises, arriving between the autumn of 2018 and 2023.