Carnival Cruise Line revealed it had signed an agreement with Shell (Shell NA LNG, LLC) to be its supplier of marine LNG (liquefied natural gas) to power the first fully LNG-powered cruise ships in North America.
Under the framework agreement, Shell will supply the cruise line with fuel for its 2 new LNG-powered vessels expected to launch 2020 and 2022 and be homeported in North America.
The two ships, created with a “green cruising” ship design, will (as part of the agreement) be fueled via Shell’s LNG Bunker Barge (LBB) which is a project announced earlier as part of Shell’s plan to develop global LNG bunkering network.
Ocean-going LBB, designed to support growing demand for LNG as marine fuel, will be the first in the U.S. and will allow ships to refuel with LNG at cruise ports along the southern U.S. East Coast.
Carnival's two new ships will be fully powered via LNG both in port and at sea, which is an environmental breakthrough due to improve air quality with cleaner emissions.
The 180,000 GT ships will be the largest in Carnival Cruise Line’s fleet with approx passenger capacity of 5,200.
This agreement builds on the partnership between Carnival Corp.’s AIDA Cruises and Shell in April 2016 to supply the AIDAprima ship with LNG while docked. AIDAprima is the world's first cruise ship to use LNG while in port.