River cruiser build contract

The new vessel will be used mainly on the northern Rhine, leaving from Cologne and calling at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Bruges and Antwerp. A-ROSA has been setting new standards in its industry for many years. “The new A-ROSA ship features a wealth of innovations, making it a world-first in the river cruise industry. It will be perfectly tailored to fit our city-trip concept for the whole family. This means we’re paving the way for a new era of cruises, offering guests the perfect combination of discovery and relaxation. At 135 metres long and 17.7 metres wide – and with a fourth deck – the new ship will provide more space for us to not only meet our guests’ expectations, but to exceed them,” said Jörg Eichler, managing director of A-ROSA Flussschiff GmbH. “The Concordia Damen shipyard is the best partner for this project – the company is both rich in tradition and innovative, and it stands for quality and reliability,” continued Eichler.

Environmental protection is a priority for A-ROSA. “We want to protect the natural areas that we travel through – and the urban areas, of course. That’s why we brought Matthias Lutter on board to oversee the new ship project – he’s an expert on alternative drives. Together with the shipyard, he developed an E-Motion ship that switches to battery power when approaching a city, so that it doesn’t produce any emissions on the approach,” said Eichler. Like all the other ships in the fleet, the new vessel will also be equipped with a shore power connection. In addition to A-ROSA’s usual energy-saving and environmental protection features, the new ship will also have an optimised hull design and employ “DACS” air-bubble technology – patented by the Damen shipyard – to reduce fuel consumption. By the time the second ship – planned for 2023 – joins the fleet, it is expected that the prototype’s innovations will have been further optimised.

Visit Damen Shipyards Group at Seawork International 2019 on stand Q12