Carnival Group sold its Costa Victoria vessel, which was built in 1996 and has a 76,372mt capacity, to Italian scrapyard San Giorgio del Porto Shipyard.
According to media reports, Costa Victoria is one of at least six vessels to be retired by Carnival Group in the near future as a cost-cutting measure. The vessel, for which the transaction was completed June 29, was initially believed to be recast in an accommodation ship role, however, the plan to recycle it was revealed once the ship arrived at the Piombino Industrie Marittime facility in Italy.
On June 19, Carnival posted a loss of $4.4bn and revealed its plans to retire six ships from its fleet, a first in its 48-year history. In 2019, the company also announced that the Costa Mediterranea would be retired in 2021.
Royal Caribbean, Carnival’s closest competitor, reportedly prepared two ships—the 75,085mt Monarch built in 1991 and the 74,680mt Sovereign built four years earlier—for recycling last week. Both ships are currently docked in Italy and are being stripped of essential materials.
The EU implemented the Ship Recycling Regulation on Jan 8, 2019 as part of its environmental policy.