Carnival Corp.’s Costa Group Begins Using Biofuels In Ship Operations

Carnival Corporation’s Costa Group, Europe’s leading cruise operator with its two brands, Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises, has just reached a major milestone in its ongoing sustainability efforts. The company today announced that it will begin testing biofuel use aboard one of its AIDA Cruises ships.

Partnering with Dutch biofuel pioneer GoodFuels on the project, as part of Carnival Corp.’s efforts to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, AIDAprima became the first larger-scale cruise ship to be bunkered with a blend of marine biofuel on July 21 during its layover in Rotterdam.

The biofuel being used is a product of 100-percent sustainable raw materials, including cooking oil waste and marine gas oil (MGO). AIDAprima is presently sailing seven-day voyages out of its homeport in Rotterdam to popular Western European destinations, as well as between Hamburg and Norway.

The biofuel project represents a landmark endeavor in Costa Group’s broader decarbonization strategy, part of which involves testing new technologies and processes with the aim of improving the existing fleet’s efficiency.

Starting with the successful launch of biofuel usage, the initiative hopes to prove that gradual decarbonization is possible, even for those cruise vessels that are already in service. However, Carnival Corp. qualified its aim in a press release, saying, “At the same time, a key prerequisite for using biofuels is that it can become widely available on an industrial scale and at marketable prices.”

Together with research partners at the University of Rostock, Costa Group had already tested the use of regenerated biofuels in ships’ diesel engines. Now, with the initial deployment of this technology in regular cruise operations, the company will work with GoodFuels to develop it on a long-term basis.

Through its implementation of several short-, medium- and long-term strategic environmental initiatives, Costa Group is actively contributing toward the achievement of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal decarbonization objectives.