by Donald Wood
Last updated: 3:00 PM ET, Thu November 9, 2017
Carnival Cruise Line has reached an agreement with Shell to become its supplier of marine liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power North America's first fully LNG-powered cruise ships.
As part of the agreement, Shell will supply Carnival with fuel for its two new LNG-powered ships expected to launch in 2020 and 2022. The vessels will be homeported in North America and built with a next-generation green cruising design.
Carnival's two new ships will be fully powered by LNG, an industry first and an environmental breakthrough that will improve air quality with cleaner emissions. When completed, the 180,000-ton vessels will be the largest ships in the cruise line's fleet with an approximate capacity of 5,200 passengers.
The partnership between the cruise line and the fuel company will also see Carnival's new ships being fueled by Shell's LNG Bunker Barge (LBB) project. Announced earlier this week, the ocean-going LBB will be the first of its kind in the United States and will allow ships to refuel with LNG at ports along the southern east coast.
"Carnival Cruise Line is strongly committed to leading the way in the implementation of technology innovations to help protect the environment and support our aggressive sustainability goals," Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy said in a statement.
"Our two new cruise ships entering service in 2020 and 2022 will not only be the largest and most technologically advanced in our fleet but will break extraordinary new ground as the first LNG-powered cruise ships in North America."
This is not the first time the Carnival Corporation has teamed with Shell. Not only will the fuel company provide LNG for the European AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises brand ships scheduled to enter service in 2018 and 2019, but Carnival and Shell also have the opportunity to partner together on supplying fuel to future LNG-powered vessels or additional itineraries.
In total, the Carnival Corporation is scheduled to take the delivery of seven LNG-powered cruise ships across four of its 10 global cruise brands, with expected debuts between 2018 and 2022.
"This agreement is a significant stepping stone in our relationship with Carnival Corporation building upon our previous LNG marine fuel supply agreements in Europe," Shell president Tahir Faruqui said in a statement. "It also marks a milestone as we continue to establish the marine LNG fuel market in the U.S. as a credible part of the global marine fuel mix."
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