Costa’s New LNG-Powered Ship Set for March 5 Inaugural Voyage
Costa Cruises’ new 185,010-gross-ton, 6,554-passenger Costa Toscana will depart on its maiden cruise on March 5 from Savona, Italy.
The ship is powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), the most advanced technology currently available in the maritime sector to reduce emissions. The company said the fuel can help eliminate the emission of sulfur oxides and particulate matter, while also significantly lowering nitrogen oxide and CO2 emissions.
“The departure of Costa Toscana also represents a new step in the journey that will bring our fleet back to full capacity this summer,” said Mario Zanetti, president of Costa Cruises. “Our restart will bolster an ecosystem that before the pandemic generated an annual economic impact of 12.6 billion euros in Europe, including 3.5 billion in Italy alone, with over 63,000 jobs.”
By summer 2022, the entire Costa fleet will be back in service, with more than 1,800 cruises available and itineraries ranging from three to 127 days in length. The company’s ships will visit 179 destinations worldwide and offer about 1,800 tours.
Costa Group, the parent company of Italy-based Costa Cruises and Germany-based AIDA Cruises, was the first in the cruise industry to use LNG. The company currently has four ships powered by this technology: AIDAnova, Costa Smeralda, Costa Toscana and AIDACosma.
Costa Toscana marks the restart of the Costa fleet after the pandemic pause. After Costa Toscana, seven more ships will return to operation until all 12 are back in service again.
“We are seeing an increasing demand for our cruises,” Zanetti said. “Furthermore, as the general situation improves, we expect a simplification of our enhanced health and safety protocols, based on our ongoing monitoring of the pandemic. The work we are carrying out in this direction with the authorities is already well advanced. I believe that cruises will soon be back to normal, with new protocols that will allow our guests to fully enjoy the experiences on board and ashore, with the return, for example, of free excursions for guests.”
Costa Toscana’s first cruise is a week-long itinerary visiting Marseille, Barcelona, Valencia, Palermo and Civitavecchia/Rome. Following her debut, the new flagship will remain positioned in the Western Mediterranean until late November.
During the summer, it will call at Savona, Civitavecchia/Rome, Naples, Ibiza, Valencia, Marseille; during the fall season Palma de Mallorca will replace Ibiza.