The Costa Favolosa has successfullycompleted its official sea trials. The ship, built at the Fincantieri shipyardin Venice, wasbrought up to its maximum speed (more than 23 knots, or 40kph) during thetests. It also conducted a ‘crash stop’, decelerating rapidly from maximumspeed to determine in how many metres the ship needs to comes to a stop duringan emergency. The Costa Favolosa also sailed for six straight hours only usingthe automatic energy and propulsion system controls, and conducted ‘black out’test, during which all electric power was cut off to check that all shipfunctions automatically returned to normal when the power was restored.
After completing her trials, the CostaFavolosa has returned to the shipyard to complete interior fitting prior tolaunch on 30 June 2011. The ship’s official naming ceremony will take place twodays later, on 2 July in Trieste, Italy.
Weighing in at 114,500 tonnes and withaccommodation capacity of 3,800 guests, Costa Favolosa will be the largest shipin the Costa fleet. It cost EUR420 million (US$599 million) to build. Thesister ship of the Costa Favolosa, the Costa Fascinosa, which is currentlyunder construction in the same shipyard, is scheduled for delivery in thespring of 2012. These two liners are part of the Costa group’s EUR9.6 billionfleet expansion plan, which will see nine ships delivered from 2003 to 2012.
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