AIDA Cruises and MSC delivering ships featuring ALMACO’s Food Handling Systems
M/S AIDAbella and MSC Poesia will be delivered during spring 2008 and each will feature the best of ALMACO’s Food Handling systems and products in Galley, Provision Stores and Refrigeration Machinery.
M/S AIDAbella is the second out of the 4 AIDA Cruises newbuildings to be built in Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany, where ALMACO has supplied and installed provision stores, galleys and pantries. The awarding of this contract to ALMACO demonstrates the confidence of the ship owner and shipyard in ALMACO’s experience, knowledge and capability to execute extremely sophisticated designs and customized layouts, all the while respecting stringent USPH regulations.
These AIDA newbuildings have very specific food handling characteristics and needs that showcase the cruise line’s ability to cater to their German audience. One of these special features is having only buffet restaurants onboard. Also, the surface allocated to the galley area is more challenging than the average surface ratio per user. The tighter galley surface translates into advanced layout designs that can only be executed by a knowledgeable company such as ALMACO. These space restrictions imply an excellent use of space, adaptation of each piece of equipment, and usage of every corner and recess to its full capacity. ALMACO is all the while in full compliance of every USPH regulation regardless of this demanding area configuration.
AIDAdiva has already been delivered and 2 more unnamed newbuildings have 2009 and 2010 delivery years. In December 2007, AIDA Cruises placed the order for 2 additional newbuildings with the yard. AIDAbella will be based in Rostock-Warnemünde for summer Baltic cruising.
Also this spring, MSC Cruises is delivering MSC Poesia. The ship is the 3rd of the Musica-class series, including MSC Musica and MSC Orchestra, all of which feature ALMACO’s provision stores and refrigeration machinery. MSC has always put a great deal of effort into the choice and preparation of the meals it serves on board its ships, and has therefore trusted ALMACO’s expertise in the Food Handling areas with the design, supply and commissioning of the company’s latest newbuildings.
ALMACO delivered 34 USPH-standard provision stores to MSC Poesia, most of which are located on decks 3 and 4, but also on deck 5, 6 and 13, positioned close to the galleys. The total floor area is over 1400 m2. The cooling plant is divided into 2 systems: 1 unit with stand-by to cool negative temperature rooms and a second unit with a stand-by unit cooling the positive temperature cold stores, as well as some refrigerators located in the galleys. The negative unit delivers a cooling capacity of app. 100 kW and the positive unit has a bigger cooling capacity of 300 kW due to the higher number of consumers.
MSC Poesia, the 7th MSC ship containing ALMACO deliveries, is scheduled for debut in March 2008, and alongside sister ships MSC Musica and MSC Orchestra, marked the company's entry into 90,000 GT cruising. In the next year or two, MSC will introduce two more newbuildings such as the 133,500-ton, 3,300-passenger MSC Fantasia and MSC Splendida. After its inaugural cruise, a 13-night Dover-to-Venice voyage, MSC Poesia will spend the next several months sailing weeklong Eastern Mediterranean cruises roundtrip from Venice.
For more information contact:
Joseph Kerebel
Manager, Design & Engineering
Phone: +33-2-4030 5042
joseph.kerebel@almaco.cc