AIDA ship will sail Canaries cruises until April then return to Hamburg for summer 2017
By
Rebecca Gibson |
AIDA Cruises’ AIDAsol made the last of 24 scheduled calls to the port of Hamburg in Germany on 19 October.
AIDAsol docked a total of 16 times at the Großer Grasbrook cruise terminal in Hamburg, where she was supplied with low-emission power by Becker Marine Systems’ LNG hybrid barge. Although AIDAsol was first successfully powered by the LNG barge on 30 May 2015, this year marked the first time that the ship was supplied with power by the barge throughout an entire season.
“The second year of the LNG hybrid barge’s operations was also successful and comprehensive,” said Dirk Lehmann, managing director of Becker Marine Systems. “With AIDAsol docking a total of 16 times, the barge supplied more than 380MW of electricity, thus making a valuable contribution to improving air quality. Thanks to the good working relationship with the AIDA Cruises team, the environmentally friendly LNG hybrid barge has thus established itself as a modern and up-to-the-minute technology in the port of Hamburg.”
Using LNG to power ship completely eliminates sulphur and soot particle emissions, and reduces nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80% and 30% respectively.
“The LNG hybrid barge allows ships fitted with a land power connection to be supplied with electricity from LNG,” said Monika Griefahn, chief sustainability officer at AIDA Cruises. “We are proud to have successfully concluded this pilot project with Becker Marine Systems and AIDAsol. This is an important contribution towards reduced emissions at the port.”
Following her departure from Hamburg, AIDAsol sailed towards Las Palmas in Gran Canaria via Dover, UK; Le Havre, France; Ferrol and Arrecife, Spain; Lisbon and Funchal; Portugal and Arrecife. Starting on 30 October, AIDAsol will operate seven-day cruises from Las Palmas to the Canary Islands, Madeira, and Lanzarote, La Palma and Tenerife in Spain.
AIDAsol will return to Hamburg on 21 April 2017, calling a total of 16 times. The vessel will sail four-day cruises to Amsterdam and London until 15 May, then offer 10-day voyages to the Norwegian fjords until the end of the summer season on 20 August.