Costa Cruises
said it will receive two of the four ships that Carnival Corp. is buying that
will be equipped with liquid natural gas (LNG) capability for power generation.
The two Costa ships will be built at the Meyer Werft
shipyard in Turku, Finland, with delivery in 2019 and 2020. Each vessel will
exceed 180,000 gross tons, offering more than 2,600 passenger cabins and a
total capacity of 6,600 passengers.
Costa said the ships
will have the largest guest capacity of any in the world.
Carnival Corp.
previously announced that AIDA Cruises in Germany would get two of the ships,
the first cruise ships to use LNG, which burns cleaner than
petroleum and produces no sulfur and particulate pollution.
With the order,
the brand destination has been announced for four of nine ships that will be
built under memoranda of understanding between Carnival Corp. and two European
yards. The nine ships are to be delivered between 2019 and 2022, Carnival has
said.