Carnival Cruise brand AIDA completes first Biofuel-powered Cruise around English Channel

Cruise company Carnival Corporation’s AIDA Cruises successfully completed its first sustainable cruise trip on biofuel supplied by Dutch supplier GoodFuels.

 AIDA’s Hyperion-class cruise ship, AIDAprima was refueled with GoodFuels’ sustainable biofuels at the Dutch port of Rotterdam while on a seven-day cruise trip, covering Hamburg (Germany), Southampton (UK), Le Havre (France), and Zeebrugge (Belgium).

The biofuel’s “drop in” properties allowed bio-bunkering without making any modification to the vessel’s engine or tanks.

GoodFuels’ sustainable biofuel is derived from feedstocks that are certified as 100% waste or residue, with no land-use issues or impact on food production or deforestation. The biofuel enables up to 90% well-to-exhaust CO2 reduction, thereby helping the shipping industry cut emissions and embrace sustainability.

This pilot run aligns with AIDA Cruises’ long-term decarbonization strategy.

AIDA and other Carnival-owned cruise brands are likely to carry out more such biofuel-powered cruise trips following this pilot run.

“We continue to actively explore all opportunities to decarbonize our fleet while advancing efficiency in line with international carbon intensity reduction targets,” Felix Eichhorn, President of AIDA Cruises said. “With the successful start of biofuel usage, we have proven that gradual decarbonization is possible even on ships already in service. An important prerequisite for us as a cruise line to be able to use it is that it becomes widely available on an industrial scale and at marketable prices.”