Close cooperation between Royal Caribbean Group (RCG), the Chantiers de l’Atlantique (CdA) shipyard, and Wärtsilä will enable RCG’s latest vessel to lead the cruise industry into a new era of alternative fuel use.

Technology group Wärtsilä will supply the engines for Celebrity Cruises’ new ship, the fifth vessel in the company’s revolutionary Edge Series. Close collaboration between RCG, CdA, and Wärtsilä will enable the ship to be capable of operating with a methanol fuel option, thus advancing the use of alternative fuels for the cruise industry. The methanol-ready engines will give the new ship unmatched fuel flexibility. The order for the engines was included in Wärtsilä’s order book in January 2023 and the vessel is scheduled for delivery from the yard in 2025.

To enable this advance, Wärtsilä will convert two Wärtsilä 46F engines to allow them to utilise methanol as fuel, marking the first-ever such conversion for this particular engine type. The engines will also be capable of operating with two other conventional fuel types. The conversion project not only promotes lower carbon cruising, but by adding methanol as a fuel option, emissions of sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter are significantly reduced.

“With the launch of our Edge Series of ships in 2018, we set ambitious sustainability goals to make these ships the most energy efficient large vessels at sea,” said Celebrity Cruises President and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. “Working collaboratively with our expert partners, we have continued to develop new technologies and achieve breakthroughs with each subsequent ship.”

“Wärtsilä has invested heavily into researching viable future carbon-neutral fuels for the marine industry, and methanol has emerged as one of the most promising candidates. This will be the second methanol-fuelled engine conversion that we have undertaken, and the first with the Wärtsilä 46F engine. We share a commitment to decarbonise shipping, and the transparent partnership between our three companies for this newbuild project represents an important milestone along the path to achieving this goal,” commented Håkan Agnevall, President and CEO of Wärtsilä.

Celebrity Cruises, along with its parent company Royal Caribbean Group, has for 30 years been committed to the innovation and advancement of solutions that support greater sustainability. The incorporation of methanol-ready engines represents the company’s next step towards achieving Destinations Net Zero, its vision for net zero emissions by 2050.

The full Wärtsilä scope includes two 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 46F engines capable of operating with methanol as fuel, two 12-cylinder Wärtsilä 46F engines, and one Wärtsilä 32 engine. Wärtsilä will convert the 46F engines to run on methanol at the yard, prior to commissioning.

Laurent Castaing, General manager of Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard says “Development and integration of methanol systems on a cruise ship is a new challenge for Chantiers de l’Atlantique and, for the first time, is part of our decarbonisation programme”