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GE Marine Engines' LM2500+ Gas Turbines to be Used in CODAG Configuration On Four Princess Cruises' New Builds

November 11, 2000

GE Marine Engines announced that its LM2500+ aeroderivative gas turbines would be used in Combined Diesel And Gas (CODAG) turbine configurations on four Grand Princess-class cruise ships currently on order from Princess Cruises.One LM2500+ gas turbine will be used on each vessel in conjunction with medium-speed diesel engine-driven alternators. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) will construct two 113,000-ton cruise ships at its Nagasaki, Japan shipyard. Each ship will use four diesel engine-drive alternators. Chantiers de l'Atlantique will build two 88,000-ton vessels at its facilities in Saint Nazaire, France, each of which will use two diesel engine-driven alternators.The Mitsubishi-constructed vessels are the largest cruise ships ever ordered by Princess and the first to be commissioned from MHI. All four Grand Princess-class ships are part of a five-year expansion program that will see the Princess fleet grow to include 14 ships carrying more than 1.5 million passengers annually.According to Princess Cruises, the diesel and gas turbine propulsion arrangement employs environmentally sound technology that supports their ongoing commitment to this important issue. At the same time, this design incorporates better space usage through installation of the gas turbine in the funnel area of the ships, thereby enabling an even wider range of public rooms and onboard facilities to be introduced.The LM2500+

The LM2500+ is an uprated version of GE's highly-successful, well-proven LM2500 aeroderivative gas turbine, which in turn is directly derived from GE's CF6 family of commercial aircraft engines and GE's TF39 military engine. The CF6 family is used on DC-10, MD-11, A300, 747 and 767 aircraft, which have logged over 200 million flight hours. Currently over 1,000 LM2500 gas turbines have been delivered for service on a variety of cruisers, frigates, destroyers and patrol boats for more than 26 international navies (see Table 1 for other LM2500+ characteristics). 

GE Marine Engines will manufacture the LM2500+ gas turbines at its Evendale, Ohio facility. S&S Energy Products, a GE Power Systems business and GE Marine Engines Marine Systems Supplier, sold and will place the LM2500+s into propulsion packages at its Houston, Texas manufacturing facility. The four ships are due for delivery between the fall of 2002 and the spring of 2004.Princess Cruises is the North American premium cruise division of P&O Princess Cruises, the third largest cruise company in the world. Coral Princess and Island Princess, the line's 88,000-ton French ships, will debut in October 2002 and June 2003, respectively. The 113,000-ton Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess being built by MHI will launch in July 2003 and May 2004, respectively.GE is no stranger to the cruise industry. The world's first gas turbine-powered cruise ship, the Millennium, was recently placed into commercial service by Celebrity Cruises. The ship features an LM2500+-based COmbined Gas turbine and steam turbine integrated Electric drive System (COGES) configuration. Three additional Millennium-class cruise ships being built for Celebrity Cruises as well as four Vantage-class ships being built for sister company, Royal Caribbean International, will use LM2500+ gas turbine-generator sets for main propulsion and on board power.