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Carnival Corporation announced on Tuesday that it has signed a shipbuilding contract to construct a third fully LNG-fuelled cruise ship for its AIDA Cruises brand.

Scheduled for delivery in 2023, the new 180,000-tonne ship is to be built by German shipbuilder Meyer Werft GmbH at its shipyard in Papenburg and will be fully powered at sea and in port by liquefied natural gas (LNG).

AIDA Cruises now has a total of three LNG ships on order. The AIDAnova is scheduled to join AIDA Cruises' fleet in December as the world's first ever cruise ship to be fully powered by LNG. The second ship of this series is due to be christened in the spring of 2021.

Tim Meyer, managing director of Meyer Werft, said: "This is the tenth AIDA Cruises ship we are building in Papenburg, emphasizing a long-term partnership between AIDA Cruises and Meyer Werft. AIDAnova and the following two sister ships feature the latest technology focused on sustainability and energy efficiency."

The three next-generation LNG ships for AIDA Cruises are part of Carnival's strategy to extend its fleet with the addition of 20 ships between 2018 and 2023.

By 2023, Carnival says that more than half of AIDA Cruises' guests will be spending their vacation on a cruise ship that runs fully or partially on LNG.

In total, Carnival has agreements in place with Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku to build nine LNG-powered cruise ships across four of its cruise brands, with delivery scheduled between 2018 and 2023.

The nine-ship construction programme comprises three ships for AIDA Cruises with expected delivery between 2018 and 2023; two for Costa Cruises, with delivery scheduled for 2019 and 2021; two for P&O Cruises UK, with expected delivery in 2020 and 2022; and two for Carnival Cruise Line, with delivery slated for 2020 and 2022.