Carnival Corporation & plc, the world's largest cruise shipping group, has placed an order for four 180,000 gross ton LNG powered cruise liners at Meyer shipyards.
Two will be delivered for AIDA Cruises, its German brand, from the Papenburg yard in Germany. The two due from Meyer Turku in Finland wll be allocated to a brand at a later point.
The contracts are worth several billions of euros in all.
The orders are part of a nine ship order programme that the Carnival group unveiled in the spring. Each of the ships will have a maximum capacity of 6,600 passengers, which is the highest number of any existing vessel or any newbuilding on order. Their lower bed capacity will be 5,000.
Arnold Donald. CEO of the Carnival group, said that the ships are part of the group's programme to grow capacity and to replace older vessels with larger and more efficient ones.
The design of the ships has focused on making public areas on board more flexible so that they can be used more efficiently, which again enhances the cruise experience of passengers.
Jan Meyer, Managing Director of Meyer Turku, said that the orders bring stability for the company and its sub contractors. The Meyer family acquired the shipyard in Turku last year from the South Korean STX Offshore & Shipbuilding group.
