The company Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of the American Carnival, announced on Tuesday that from 2019 it will propose cruises to its customers on board cleaner ships, equipped with hybrid engines using liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The company specified that it had passed an order to acquire two such ships, which could each transport 6,600 passengers, to the Meyer shipyards of Turku in Finland, the company stated. These will be the first to operate with LNG as fuel in the field of the tourist cruises, along with those already announced by the German subsidiary of Costa, Aida Cruises, according to the group. The two giant vessels will be launched between 2019 and 2020.

These "new generation" ships will be equipped with LNG-powered hybrid engines (very low-temperature methane gas to keep them in liquid state and reduce their volume) for operation in port and high seas. "The gas will be stored in the ships and will provide 100% of the energy at sea," which will allow "a significant reduction in gas emissions," Costa says.

It is considered that air pollution caused in ports by cruise ships, whose engines are kept in operation during the scales, can play a role in the emergence of various cancers and heart crises.

According to the oenegé Transport and Environment, about 50,000 premature deaths in Europe are attributable to marine air pollution.

Text: AFP / Yahoo