Kongsberg Maritime has broadened its Elegance Pod propulsion family with five new unit sizes that deliver power up to 22 megawatts, MarineLink Maritime News reported on 2 September 2026.
The launch stretches the Elegance range into ratings intended to meet the power needs of the world’s largest cruise vessels, according to the report. The developer framed the new sizes as a means to cover a broader set of vessel requirements.
New sizes, higher power
The five additions raise the maximum output available from the Elegance line to 22MW, a level the company says allows it to address the largest cruise ship segments. The announcement describes the units as engineered for both current vessel arrangements and for architectures expected to be adopted in future newbuilds.
Supporting evolving vessel architecture
Kongsberg Maritime’s statement, as relayed by MarineLink, emphasises adaptability: the new pods are being developed to support today’s configurations and to be compatible with future platform choices. That positioning underlines an intention to offer propulsion hardware that integrates with a range of ship-design approaches as operators modify layouts or adopt new systems.
The expanded range is presented as a response to market demand for higher-power podded propulsion on very large passenger ships. By extending the top end of its product family, Kongsberg Maritime aims to give shipyards and owners additional options when matching machinery to hull and hotel-load profiles.
Product modularity and selection are central themes of the announcement. Offering several new sizes within a single product family typically permits closer alignment of installed power with operational needs, which can reduce compromises at the design stage and simplify maintenance and logistics for operators who adopt a common pod type across a fleet.
The company’s move also draws attention to the role of podded propulsion in contemporary ship design. The Elegance expansion explicitly targets cruise applications and is framed as enabling integration into very large vessels, signalling that manufacturers are continuing to scale electric-drive solutions into higher power bands.
A brief factual summary:
• Five new Elegance Pod sizes have been introduced.
• The new units deliver up to 22MW.
• They are presented as suitable for the world’s largest cruise vessels and as developed to support current and future vessel architectures.
MarineLink Maritime News published the item on 2 September 2026, which served as the source for the details above.
The declaration of the expanded range will be watched by ship designers and cruise operators assessing machinery options for forthcoming newbuilds. The announcement positions the Elegance family to compete where very high propulsive power and integration flexibility are required, according to the company statement reported by MarineLink.
As reported, the extension of the Elegance Pod line is a deliberate effort to respond to larger vessel power requirements and to provide a product that can be applied across a variety of ship architectures. Further technical details and delivery schedules were not included in the summary published by MarineLink on 2 September 2026.