ABB and Carnival ink 15-year Azipod XO maintenance agreement

Image: ABB/Carnival Corporation

Since ABB secured its first Azipod propulsion order for the Carnival Cruise Line ship Carnival Elation in 1995, Carnival Corporation has gone on to specify Azipod propulsion for more than 40 vessels in its various cruise brands. Now the cruise giant has signed a 15-year maintenance agreement with ABB covering the Azipod XO propulsion systems that power vessels operating for several of its brands.

Azipod XO propulsion is ABB’s solution for high-power open water applications, and is particularly suited for cruise ships.

The maintenance agreement will simplify service management for Carnival’s Azipod XO propulsion units, with ABB experts remotely available 24/7 to support the vessels’ electric engineering crew on maintenance, using the ABB Ability remote diagnostic system and ABB Ability condition monitoring for Azipod propulsion solution. The data on Azipod propulsion performance accumulated with these solutions makes spare part management and dry dock planning increasingly predictable and cost-efficient.

“This agreement helps optimize our long-term fleet performance while supporting our ongoing efforts to further improve energy and fuel efficiency and reduce emissions throughout our global operations,” said Michael Kaczmarek, senior vice president, marine technology, Carnival Corporation. “We are also creating predictability on maintenance costs and spares planning, which delivers significant gains for planning, procedures and ship performance over the long term. We see this strategic and collaborative agreement as an excellent example of what can be achieved in our ship performance objectives through collaboration with our key technology suppliers.”

“The agreement and its 15-year timeframe further strengthen the long-standing collaboration between ABB and Carnival Corporation,” said Juha Koskela, division president, ABB Marine & Ports. “We take great pride in making sure Carnival Corporation’s cruise vessels get the full benefits of an optimized maintenance plan, service offering and access to our digital services around the world.”