By
Alex Smith |
Shipyard Meyer Turku has laid the keel for Costa Cruises’ Costa Toscana, as the cruise line celebrated the milestone with a ceremony attended by the management of both organisations.
Minna Arve, the mayor of Turku, Finland, was chosen as godmother for the event. According to naval tradition, Arve placed several commemorative coins on the keel of the ship as a symbol of good wishes for the ship’s future journeys. The ship will now begin to take shape in the dry dock, where a 100-metre section of the hull has already been placed.
“We are always building on the experiences from previous ships, but Costa Toscana will also have totally new design in many features to inspire the passengers,” said Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku. “Today is the day when this all starts to become visible in the form of one beautiful ship.”
Costa Toscana will be powered by LNG, making her the second vessel in the Costa Cruises’ fleet to operate on the fuel after sister ship Costa Smeralda. Both vessels are part of an expansion plan that will include the delivery of seven new ships to the Costa Group by 2023, for a total investment of over €6 billion (US$6.55 billion). Up to five of these ships will be fuelled by LNG.
“This symbolic moment in the construction of Costa Toscana marks a further step forward in the use of LNG in the cruise sector,” said Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises. “We were the first in the world to believe in this innovation five years ago when we ordered these new ships, starting a transformation process toward make tourism increasingly sustainable. LNG is currently the solution that allows the best and most immediate results to be achieved in terms of reducing the environmental impact of ships.”
Costa Toscana will depart on an inaugural 14-day cruise from Hamburg, Germany on 28 June 2021. She will then offer one-week cruises in the western Mediterranean during the summer and first week of November.