News

Costa Smeralda floated out with traditional ceremonies at Meyer Turku shipyard

The float-out of Costa Smeralda, an LNG powered 180 000 GT cruise ship, marks the beginning of the final stage of construction for this Italian style beauty engineered and constructed in Finland.

The ceremony today starts the outfitting phase in the ship’s construction. She will be finalized at the outfitting pier of Meyer Turku and be ready for delivery for Costa Cruises in October 2019. Costa Smeralda will be the first LNG powered cruise ship in the Costa fleet and one of the first ones to sail the seas. LNG usage will cut all small-particle and sulfur oxide emissions and significantly reduce nitrogen oxide and CO2 emissions of the ship.

“With LNG a breakthrough in fuel technology, Costa Smeralda represents a major innovation for the international market and an important step toward setting new standards for the entire sector. Costa Group is the market leader in Europe and China, and we continue to make sustainable tourism a key part of our industry leadership” says Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises.

Meyer Turku has been leading the LNG revolution in ship building for several years now, with already two LNG powered ships delivered.

“We have been very excited to bring our expertise in designing, engineering and construction of LNG ships in service for Costa Smeralda. This ship is also going to be a step up in ship size for us, as we are continuing our production ramp-up to two times the level of previous high for the shipyard”, CEO of Meyer Turku, Jan Meyer, says.

This beautiful ship will also have her very own onboard museum: the CoDe - Costa Design Museum, curated by Matteo Vercelloni, is dedicated to the excellence of Italian design and will feature many of the names that have contributed to the ship's construction and its success.

“With the hull of the ship now completed, the next stage of the building process is proceeding to complete all these attractions and features, making sure at the same time that Smeralda will be a safe, reliable and comfortable ship to sail at sea. After the summer the commissioning and testing of the ships myriad of automatic systems will intensify both at the pier and at sea before delivery”, CEO Jan Meyer explains.

 

More information:

Tapani Mylly
Communication Manager
tapani.mylly@meyerturku.fi
Mobile: +358-50-560 2464
www.meyerturku.fi

 

Costa Smeralda facts:

  • Delivery: October 2019 (sister ship in 2021)
  • Flag: Italy
  • Length: 337m
  • Width: 42 m
  • Draught max: approx. 8.8m
  • Gross Tonnage: 183,900
  • Passenger cabins: 2610
  • Total passengers: approx. 6554
  • Balcony cabin ratio: 63,7%
  • Total crew: 1646
  • Service speed: 17kn
  • No. of main engines: 4

 

Read the original press release here.