The Great 'Norwegian Escape'

The Great 'Norwegian Escape'

Norwegian Escape reverse's out from its hanger. Photo captured from TV stream from Myer Werft.

The largest cruise ship ever built by Norwegian Cruise Line, Norwegian Escape at 164,000 gross tons, was floated out at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany on Saturday 15/08/2015.

Project Breakaway Plus ships are two new passenger cruise ships to be constructed by Meyer Werft, for Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL). Upon delivery, the two ships will become the biggest German-built passenger cruise ships in NCL's fleet.

The order for the first Breakaway Plus vessel was placed in October 2012 and The second ship was ordered in July 2013. They are scheduled to be delivered in October 2015 and mid-2017 respectively.

In September 2013, the two ships were named Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Bliss, through an online campaign held in the US, Canada (excluding Quebec), Spain, Germany and the UK.

The contract value of the project is estimated to be €1.4bn ($1.92bn). NCL has arranged for 80% of export credit financing through KfW IPEX-Bank of Germany.

Breakaway Plus ship design

NCL's new Breakaway Plus ships will be similar in design to its Breakaway Class vessels, Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway.

The Breakaway Plus class vessels will feature interiors with innovative designs, plush staterooms and world-class amenities surpassing NCL's existing fleet of cruise ships. The new vessels will be approximately 10% bigger than the Breakaway class ships.

Photo captured from TV stream from Myer Werft.

An additional deck will be built to incorporate any new innovations. The total length of each cruise liner will be approximately 325m, width 42m and gross tonnage 163,000t. Each ship will have 4,200 passenger berths.

Bolidt will collaborate with Swedish company Tillberg Design and SMC Design to design synthetic floors and deck surfaces for the two Breakaway Plus cruise ships.

Breakaway Plus propulsion and machinery

Each Breakaway Plus vessel will be fitted with five tier II-type V48/60CR engines to be supplied by MAN Diesel & Turbo. Two of the five engines will have a power capacity of 14V each and the remaining three will have a capacity of 12V each.

"The engines will have a total power capacity of 76,800kW and use common-rail injection system, which is suited for both heavy fuel oil and distillate fuels, and helps reduce fuel consumption and gas emissions."

The engines will have a total power capacity of 76,800kW and use common-rail injection system, which is suited for both heavy fuel oil and distillate fuels, and helps reduce fuel consumption and gas emissions.

Four propulsion transformers of 11,250kVA each and four distribution transformers of 2,500kVA each will be fitted. The remaining 11 transformers, whose efficiency will be between 550kVA and 2,500kVA, will be fitted in different parts of the ship.

The Breakaway Plus vessels will be fitted with transformers, azipods, converters, switchgears and motors supplied by ABB. A total of 19 transformers will be manufactured at ABB's transformer plant in Brilon, Germany. ABB's Turgi plant in Switzerland will manufacture the converters, while its facilities in Finland and Italy will manufacture the azipods and switchgears.

Advanced scrubber technology

Advanced scrubber technology developed by Green Tech Marine (GTM) will be used by the Breakaway Plus ships. GTM will provide five scrubbers for each ship.

These GTM-R scrubbers are small and occupy little cabin space and other service areas. The scrubbers will enable the ships to comply with the 0.1% sulphur limit in emission control areas (ECA), which is set to take effect in 2015. 

Photo courtesy of cruisehive.com