Italian shipping company Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) has placed an order for four new LNG-powered RoPax ships at Guangzhou Shipbuilding International (GSI) shipyard in China. Under the shipbuilding contract, GSI will begin constructing the vessels in 2026, with the first units scheduled for delivery in 2028. The newbuilds will be powered by LNG and are expected to reduce CO2 emissions by over 50% per unit compared to their predecessors, GNV said. The ships will have a capacity of 2,500 people, over 500 cabins, and 3,500 linear meters of garage space, and be the largest by tonnage (71,300 tons) of their kind in the Mediterranean. According to GNV, the newly ordered ships will represent an evolution compared to those from the previous order, including GNV Polaris and GNV Orion, and will allow the company to expand its fleet with eight new units between 2025 and 2030. With an aim to modernize its fleet, the shipping company recently selected machine learning and predictive models from RINA to optimize energy use and fuel consumption on the 2024-built GNV Polaris. GNV started testing RINA’s SERTICA Performance tool on GNV Polaris during its inaugural voyage from China to Italy. As disclosed, the system had enabled the identification of two optimal operating scenarios, allowing for the lowest specific fuel consumption, and a predictive model that serves as both a benchmark and a simulator for future operations.