Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri is investing heavily in new drydock capabilities and yard upgrades that are reshaping how cruise ships are built, refitted and maintained for a lower carbon future. From integrating shore power and hydrogen systems to preparing hulls for alternative fuels, the company’s shipyards are increasingly becoming laboratories for sustainable cruise technology rather than just places where vessels are repaired and repainted.

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From Repair Yards To Decarbonization Hubs

Fincantieri, which operates major cruise-focused yards in Monfalcone, Marghera, Trieste, Ancona and elsewhere in Italy, has long relied on drydocks as the workhorses of its business. These basins, where water is pumped out to expose the hulls of giant vessels, are where cruise ships undergo scheduled maintenance, life-extension work and emergency repairs. In the past, this often meant conventional steel work and mechanical overhauls that did little to change a ship’s long-term environmental profile.

That role is rapidly evolving as climate regulation tightens and cruise brands seek deep cuts in emissions across entire fleets. Fincantieri’s drydocks are now being adapted to handle more complex, sustainability-driven scopes, from retrofitting vessels with shore power connections to integrating large LNG and future-fuel systems. The facilities are increasingly set up to support a vessel throughout its life cycle, not only at delivery but across decades of upgrades driven by evolving environmental rules.

Company executives have framed this pivot as a central plank of Fincantieri’s industrial strategy. Recent financial results show the group has returned to profit and is targeting higher margins by 2025, supported in part by strong demand for low-emission cruise newbuilds and associated yard work. That pipeline is forcing the shipbuilder to think about drydock capacity, infrastructure and workforce skills as strategic levers for the cruise sector’s energy transition.

LNG, Future Fuels And Drydock Readiness

Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is the most visible example of how drydock upgrades are intersecting with sustainable cruise travel. Fincantieri has delivered several large LNG-powered cruise ships, including a 178,000 gross tonnage vessel handed over in early 2024 as the largest cruise ship ever built in Italy. The company highlights LNG’s ability to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions compared with heavy fuel oil while almost eliminating sulfur oxides and particulates.

Building and servicing such ships requires drydocks equipped for cryogenic fuel systems, specialized piping, safety zones and bunkering interfaces. Fincantieri has been expanding those capabilities, including through its U.S. subsidiary Fincantieri Marine Group, which has built LNG bunker barges that supply cruise vessels and other ships. The company and its partners see LNG bunkering infrastructure including barges and terminal links as an essential bridge that allows cruise operators to cut emissions now while creating a pathway to bio and synthetic LNG in future years.

At the same time, Fincantieri is increasingly designing cruise ships to be “fuel ready” for methanol, ammonia and other alternative fuels, and that readiness has implications for drydock work. Hulls, tanks and machinery spaces are being configured so that future conversions can be carried out in scheduled yard stays instead of requiring newbuild replacements. Drydocks, in turn, need the lifting gear, hazard management systems and technical expertise to execute complex fuel conversions on vessels with thousands of passengers and crew.

Shore Power And Near Zero Emissions In Port

Shore power or cold ironing is another area where Fincantieri’s shipyards and drydocks are playing a pivotal role in sustainable cruising. Many ports in Europe and North America are introducing or expanding shore power facilities, and cruise lines are moving to ensure their fleets can plug in instead of running engines while berthed. Retrofitting a large existing ship with shore power systems typically requires extensive cabling, switchgear installation and integration work that can only be done efficiently in drydock or alongside in a heavily equipped yard.

Fincantieri has begun delivering newbuilds where shore power and advanced energy recovery systems are standard. The Mein Schiff Relax, a low-carbon cruise vessel delivered to TUI Cruises in February 2025, is equipped with dual-fuel LNG and marine gas oil engines, Euro 6-standard catalytic converters and a shore power connection. According to Fincantieri, the ship’s combination of shore power and energy recovery systems allows almost emission-free operation during port stays, which can make up about 40 percent of its operating profile.

For existing ships, drydock periods are being used to bring similar capabilities to older tonnage. That can involve strengthening electrical rooms, installing new transformers and routing high-capacity cables through complex hotel spaces. The changing scope underscores how the line between traditional refit work and decarbonization projects is blurring. Many cruise operators are bundling hull coatings, efficiency improvements and shore power retrofits into single yard visits, and shipbuilders are retooling their docks to handle the more sophisticated integration and testing this entails.

Hydrogen, Fuel Cells And The Next Generation Of Cruise Retrofits

While LNG and shore power reflect the current wave of sustainable cruise technology, Fincantieri is also preparing its yards and drydocks for a future in which hydrogen and fuel cells play a greater role. The group is leading an industrial project focused on hybrid propulsion systems that combine hydrogen-powered fuel cells with conventional engines, aiming to create an Italian and European supply chain for hydrogen in maritime applications.

This research and development is already filtering into vessels under construction. For MSC’s luxury brand Explora Journeys, Fincantieri is building two hydrogen-ready cruise ships that will combine LNG propulsion with a hydrogen fuel cell system capable of providing emission-free power for hotel operations while in port. The drydock integration of such systems requires new approaches in safety zoning, ventilation, structural reinforcement for cryogenic or pressurized storage and specialized testing regimes before a ship is handed over.

Fincantieri is also working with Viking on a series of ocean ships that will incorporate a modular hydrogen system designed to deliver up to 6 megawatts of clean power. The first of these, Viking Libra, is scheduled for delivery from the Ancona yard in 2026 and has been presented as capable of operating with zero emissions in particularly sensitive areas. Integrating containerized hydrogen storage, fuel cell stacks and associated power electronics is stretching the role of drydocks beyond conventional outfitting, turning them into integration platforms for technologies more commonly associated with power plants.

Ship repair and conversion managers note that as hydrogen and fuel cells move from pilot projects into wider deployment, drydock schedules will need to accommodate more frequent and complex overhauls of energy systems. That could include replacing early-generation fuel cell modules with higher-efficiency units, upgrading hydrogen storage or reconfiguring hotel loads. Yards that are already investing in training, safety systems and layout changes for hydrogen are likely to be at an advantage when cruise lines scale up such technologies across their fleets.

Designing Ships For A Life Of Sustainable Upgrades

Fincantieri’s sustainability roadmap emphasizes designing ships so that significant emissions-reducing upgrades can be introduced over time through drydock work rather than only at the construction stage. The company points to efficiency improvements in non-propulsion systems, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning, waste heat recovery and onboard hotel services, as areas where it has already helped cut fuel consumption by hundreds of tons per year on a typical cruise ship.

These gains are not purely theoretical. When a vessel comes into drydock, yards can install new heat recovery units, more efficient chillers and updated automation systems that better match power generation to demand. On large ships of around 130,000 gross tons, Fincantieri estimates that such upgrades can reduce annual fuel consumption for hotel systems by around 7 percent, translating into lower emissions and operating costs. Those savings are particularly significant for cruise lines facing both rising fuel prices and tightening climate regulations.

Hull form improvements and advanced coatings represent another crucial aspect of drydock-based decarbonization. Applying next-generation low-friction paints, repairing hull damage and tuning appendages during scheduled yard stays can reduce a vessel’s resistance through the water, allowing it to maintain service speeds at lower power. When combined with digital performance monitoring and route optimization, these physical upgrades can extend the environmental performance benefits of newbuild design over the entire operating life of the ship.

Regulatory Pressure And The Economics Of Green Drydocks

The cruise sector’s shift towards cleaner ships and operations is being pushed by regulation as well as market expectations. The International Maritime Organization has set a course toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by mid-century, and regional rules in Europe are already pricing carbon and requiring shore power connections in major ports. For cruise brands, compliance increasingly depends on what can be achieved in drydock during limited maintenance windows.

Fincantieri’s rapid adoption of green technologies can therefore be read as a response to both its customers and regulators. The large order it secured from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings in early 2025, covering a new generation of mega-ships for delivery through the mid-2030s, highlights how future cruise programs are being framed around energy efficiency and fuel flexibility from the outset. Yard investments in drydock infrastructure, including enlarged basins and upgraded lifting and power equipment, are part of the shipbuilder’s bet that sustainability-focused projects will remain a core revenue driver.

At the same time, drydock slots are finite, and the scope of work per visit is growing as cruise lines seek to bundle regulatory upgrades with routine maintenance. Industry analysts say this creates an incentive for Fincantieri and other yards to expand capacity or improve turnaround times. Automation in planning, prefabrication of large modules and closer collaboration between shipowners, classification societies and equipment suppliers are all being deployed to make sure complex sustainability projects can be completed within the tight windows common in cruise scheduling.

Implications For Cruise Passengers And Port Communities

The technical nature of drydock upgrades can make them invisible to travelers, but the changes under way at Fincantieri’s facilities are likely to be felt by cruise passengers and port communities alike. Shore power connections and cleaner fuels mean that ships will increasingly arrive in popular destinations with engines largely offline while alongside, cutting local air pollution and reducing noise. For residents in congested cruise hubs, that could ease some of the environmental tensions that have dogged the industry.

Onboard, energy-efficient systems and advanced waste treatment, such as those installed on the new LNG-powered Mein Schiff Relax, promise quieter cabins, more stable temperatures and less visible exhaust. Fuel cells and battery-supported operations may eventually allow ships to sail at low speed near coastlines or sensitive areas with almost no engine noise, changing the character of approaches to fjords, polar regions and other prized itineraries.

Fincantieri and its cruise partners are also marketing sustainability upgrades as part of their value proposition to increasingly climate-aware travelers. Shipyards that can reliably deliver and maintain lower-emission ships, backed by drydock capabilities that keep those technologies updated over decades, are becoming central to how cruise brands communicate their environmental progress. For an industry that depends on access to pristine destinations and the goodwill of local communities, the work taking place behind closed dock gates is becoming a defining factor in what the future of cruise travel will look like.