Reflecting the Chinese market, energy efficiency and high comfort levels were significant factors in Costa Venezia's design
Costa Venezia is the first cruise ship built specifically for the Chinese cruise market, which had a major impact on its design.
This and a focus on energy efficiency are the main drivers behind the vessel's design and construction. Weighing in with a gross tonnage of 135,500, 323 m in length with a capacity for over 5,200 guests, Costa Venezia has been designed for Chinese customers, introducing guests to Italian culture and lifestyle starting with the interiors, which are inspired by the city of Venice.
Costa Group and Carnival Asia chief executive Michael Thamm explains “Costa Venezia will help us to further develop the cruise market in China, which has a great unexplored potential. 2.5M Chinese people a year choose to go on a cruise vacation, which is less than 2% of the number of Chinese people who travel abroad.”
Carnival Corporation president and chief executive Arnold Donald says “The delivery of Costa Venezia is a further step in the growth of a strong and sustainable cruise industry in China, which someday, we believe will be the largest cruise market in the world. The growth of the Chinese cruise industry will continue to open the world to millions of Chinese travellers and bring ever-increasing prosperity to its people.”
“As the first ship built specifically for the Chinese market, Costa Venezia marks the start of a new era, not only for Costa and Fincantieri but also for the Chinese cruise industry as a whole,” says Costa Group Asia president Mario Zanetti. “From conception to delivery, everything about Costa Venezia has been designed with the Chinese customer in mind. Costa Venezia will continue to offer the authentic Italian experience that is a hallmark of Costa, but with further innovations that have never been seen before and which are designed to meet the needs of the local market even better.”
It was built by Fincantieri. Explaining the impact of building the cruise ship specifically for the Chinese market, Fincantieri project manager Guido Checchinato says “Costa Venezia is the first Costa cruise vessel specifically tailored for the Chinese market and designed to provide the full experience of a tour in Venice. The Chinese guests will have the opportunity to explore the Italian and Venetian culture throughout the vessel. The main theater is inspired by the 'Teatro la Fenice' while the main atrium has been developed and built reproducing the Piazza San Marco. There is also the column with the lion on the top like the one located in Piazza San Marco.”
He said two gondolas have been also handmade, built by Venetian artisans and installed on board. “All the restaurants and public areas allow customers to enjoy and live the beauty of Venice and its magnificent streets and rivers,” he commented.
Costa Venezia’s Canal Grande Aft features a real gondola made by Squero di San Trovaso artisans ‘floating’ in backlit glass
The theme of the aft bar recalls the Venice International Film Festival which includes a collection of waxworks of celebrated artists, such as Luciano Pavarotti.
Mr Checchinato adds “One of the unique features of this ship, specifically developed for Chinese guests, is the karaoke area. This area contains several karaoke rooms with state-of-the-art equipment.”
The ship's interiors were designed by YSA Design.
Aside from creating an interior design aimed at the Chinese market, energy efficiency was also a major focus.
Advanced green technologies
Mr Checchinato says “Costa Venezia incorporates the most advanced green technologies applied on the latest ships built by Fincantieri."
This includes:
The scrubber system includes three DeSOx towers installed on the exhaust gas ducts. Mr Checchinato says “The tower, its ancillary equipment and the philosophy of the system has been jointly designed by Fincantieri and Ecospray.”
Expanding on the hull design, he said “The Fincantieri naval architecture department has optimised resistance and propulsion characteristics of the vessel through numerical computation analysis software and the results of the towing tank.”
The propulsion system is provided by two ABB azipods. Mr Checchinato said “Azipod propulsion has been chosen for benefits including enhanced harbour manoeuvring, lower vibrations and noise, which means higher passenger comfort.”
As well as supplying the 16,500-kW azipods, ABB provided the power plant, generators, drives and transformers. ABB Marine and Ports head of passenger dry cargo and ice segment Marcus Högblom says “Our system provides fuel efficiency and good manoeuvrability. There is much higher hydrodynamic efficiency of the propeller and it allows a leaner hull. He said the pods allowed an “enormous amount of thrust of the propellers exactly where they want”.
ABB was responsible for integrating its systems, and the cruise operator has a service agreement with the company which includes a diagnostic service.
The engine configuration consists of five MAN Diesel & Turbo gensets: two 16,800 kW and three 9,600 kW. Mr Checchinato says “Such a configuration has been chosen for its flexibility, already successfully tested on the previous Vista-class vessels built by Fincantieri. The redundancy in both power generation and propulsion fully complies with SRtP requirements.”
Part of the vessel was built in one of Fincantieri’s yards in Romania and towed to Fincantieri's main shipyard in Monfalcone. “Here the two parts of the ship were joined in one single hull. Such a process allowed us to reduce the overall construction schedule of the vessel. Co-ordination between the two yards has been one of the major challenges of the engineering and construction,” says Mr Checchinato.
Achieving highest comfort class
Italian class society RINA classed the vessel. Rina marine services director Paolo Moretti says, “China is a new frontier for the cruise ship market, not only for the market for passengers but for potential shipbuilders.”
He singled out how comfort was a significant factor in designing and constructing the vessel. “It is certified by us as having the highest comfort standards in noise and vibration – this was really huge, to have the comfort-class notation.”
He said that gaining the comfort-class notation involved the design, selection of materials and installation.
Mr Moretti expands “It involved the design of the vessel in terms of reducing noise, simulation at design stage to see how the structure can reduce noise and vibration and selection of materials to reduce noise and vibration”.
Mr Moretti adds “There were very strict checks of the installation, to ensure vibration was avoided”.
Elsewhere, being environmentally friendly was a very significant factor. Mr Moretti says “There is always great attention to the environment, the cruise industry wants to leave the places we visit as we find them.” The vessel was certified with RINA’s Green Star for design excellence in environmental protection. Highlighting why it was awarded the notation, Mr Moretti singled out some features. He said “The vessel has scrubbers and the hull is hydrodynamically efficient. The vessel monitors consumption of the electricity used for air conditioning and for the hotel. The design and equipment on board guarantees the highest standard of environmental protection.”
After Costa Venezia, the group's next ship to come into service, in October 2019, will be Costa Smeralda, the new Costa Cruises flagship and the first ship for the world market to be powered by LNG. A second ship designed exclusively for the Chinese market, a sister ship to Costa Venezia, is under construction by Fincantieri in Marghera and is expected to be delivered in 2020.
Costa Venezia
Length between perpendiculars: 287.10 m
Length overall: 323.60 m
Breadth: 37.20 m
Service speed: 18.0 knots
Max speed: 22.6 knots
Propulsion: two azipods of 16,500 kW each
Gensets: two 16,800 kW, three 9,600 kW
Lifesaving appliances: 6,538 (crew and passengers)
Gross tonnage: approximately 135.500
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