GNV AURORA enters service on 1 June and GNV VIRGO on 1 July, both operating between Tanger Med, Barcelona and Genoa. Barcelona will act as a transit hub across the Morocco–Spain–Italy network, while Genoa serves as the main LNG bunkering port, with the vessels refuelling every four to five days.

The deployment prepares GNV for the 2026 summer season and the annual Marhaba operation, which sees more than three million Moroccan citizens travel between Europe and Morocco between June and mid-September. In 2025 the company carried more than 465,000 passengers on Moroccan routes, and close to six million over almost two decades of service to the country.

GNV AURORA is the second LNG-fuelled unit in the fleet and the last of an initial series of four newbuildings from Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI). At around 53,000 GT and 218 metres, she accommodates over 1,700 passengers in 426 cabins and offers 2,780 lane metres of cargo capacity. LNG propulsion and efficiency measures cut CO2 emissions by up to 50 per cent per transport unit compared with previous generations, with the vessel meeting IMO Tier III standards and fitted with cold ironing.

The newbuildings form part of a EUR 1.3 billion fleet renewal plan running to 2030. A further four ships will be delivered at six-monthly intervals from 2027, built to a larger design of 237 metres and 71,300 GT, with capacity for 2,500 passengers and 3,500 lane metres in 500 cabins.