Costa Smeralda was delivered on December 5, to Costa Cruises from Meyer Turku shipyard and sailed towards Barcelona on the 6th. The ship is one of the most innovative ships ever built at Turku shipyard.
Costa Smeralda is the first ship in the Costa fleet to use LNG, both in port and at sea. It is part of an expansion plan that includes an investment of over six billion euros for seven new ships to be delivered by 2023 to the Costa Group, which consists of Costa Cruises, Germany-based AIDA Cruises and Costa Asia. Five of the vessels - including Costa Smeralda and her sister ship Costa Toscana, currently under construction at Meyer Turku and scheduled for delivery in 2021 - will be powered by LNG. With the arrival of Costa Smeralda, the Costa Group fleet rises to a total of 29 ships in service, all flying the Italian flag, underscoring the company’s leadership in Europe and China.
“Costa Smeralda will be a further boost to the use of LNG in cruise ships, a technology we were the first to believe in, setting a new course in the cruise sector. Our Costa Group has invested in the construction of five new LNG ships as part of our leadership in sustainable tourism. It is an innovation in the cruise and overall shipping industries, destined to mark a step change as it guarantees a significant reduction in our environmental impact without compromising the safety aspects that are an essential priority for us”. - said Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises.
“Costa Smeralda is a significant product innovation as well, with Italian hospitality remaining a fundamental and distinctive element of our brand, able to enchant and excite not only new cruise passengers but also more experienced ones".
Costa Smeralda is leading the LNG revolution in cruise ships, being part of the first LNG-powered cruise ship class in the world. The use of LNG is a major development in minimizing environmental impact and significantly improving air quality, with the virtual elimination of sulfur dioxide emissions (zero emissions) and particulate matter (95-100% reduction). LNG also significantly reduces emissions of nitrogen oxide (direct reduction of 85%) and CO2(reduction of up to 20%).
Costa Smeralda is truly a traveling “smart city”. Apart from the major innovation of liquefied natural gas, the ship incorporates a series of cutting-edge technological innovations designed to further reduce environmental impact. The daily water requirement is achieved directly from the sea thanks to the ship’s desalination systems. Energy consumption is reduced to a minimum by using LED lights, recovering the heat generated by the engines, the particular shape of the hull designed to significantly reduce drag in the water, and new- generation elevators that recover energy by re-introducing it into the electricity system.