Sustainability has been part of the AIDA philosophy from the very beginning. In 2007, we were first in the cruise industry to publish a sustainability report. Our environmental officers were the first ones on board a cruise ship. With our biking options, we were trendsetters in sustainable shore excursions. Today, these are considered matters of course. Innovations become standards.
Since 2007, all ships have been prepared to connect to shoreside power. AIDAsol was fully equipped in 2013. It will be the first ship powered by Europe's very first shoreside power unit for cruise ships in Hamburg-Altona, which will be commissioned in 2015.
AIDAprima, which we put into service in 2015, is the first new ship to feature a three-step system for exhaust aftertreatment. This system will enable us to reduce emissions of soot particles and nitrogen and sulfur oxides by between 90 and 99 percent. Installation of the comprehensive exhaust aftertreatment system on board AIDAprima was fully completed in 2014. We are also retrofitting the existing fleet step-by-step. From 2014 to date, we have already equipped four of our 10 ships (AIDAluna, AIDAvita, AIDAmar, and AIDAdiva) with the first installations of the comprehensive exhaust aftertreatment system, namely a scrubber for reducing sulfur oxides.
With the LNG Hybrid Barge, AIDA and Becker Marine Systems were able to initiate an additional alternative for eco-friendly energy supply in port. After the christening of the LNG Hybrid Barge on October 18, 2014, we celebrated a world premiere: On May 30, 2015, AIDAsol was operated for the first time with low-emission electricity from LNG in the HafenCity Cruise Terminal in Hamburg.
In 2014, we created additional momentum in environmental protection matters with our voluntary CO2 compensation of AIDA cruises as well as the introduction and labeling of sustainable shore excursions.
Whether cutting-edge technology or changes in our offering: That which proves itself in testing is generally accepted. Innovations thereby lead to new standards, which we then firmly integrate into our operational processes. Topics that we successfully tackle today in terms of sustainability, will become another one of tomorrow's milestones in our continuity logbook of AIDA cares.
