MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique today celebrated two significant newbuild milestones for the construction of the line’s next generation of environmentally advanced vessels.

The new MSC World Europa was floated out, while the coin ceremony was held for the MSC Euribia. Of note, MSC also confirmed the World Europa will have a fuel cell onboard.

The MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia will become the first LNG-powered vessels to join the MSC fleet next year representing an investment of €3 billion in Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) ships with the construction on MSC World Europa II due to commence in early 2023, according to a statement. 

Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman, MSC Cruises, said: “Today is another important milestone in our journey towards net zero emissions by 2050 for our marine operations. Following billions of euros of investment, we are announcing significant construction developments in not just one but two of our next generation LNG-powered vessels bringing us ever closer to our vision of an emissions free cruise industry.

“We have a lot more to do but I am pleased that despite all that we have faced from the pandemic over the last two years, we have still been able to achieve with our partners at Chantiers de L’Atlantique the launch of these new LNG vessels – the first ever made in France that will also introduce potential new fuel cell technologies to make them even more efficient. We now need to take even bigger steps and we will need the continued support of our suppliers, partners and Governments to achieve this. We all need to work together to achieve our green future.”

Laurent Castaing, General Manager, Chantiers de l’Atlantique, added: “It is indeed a very special moment we are living today. This is not only because these ships are respectively the 15 th and the 16th we are building for MSC Cruises- which shows the outstanding quality of the relationship we established between our two companies since the 90’s. This is not only because they will rank among the largest and the finest of the world’s cruise market. But it is also and especially because they represent a giant step towards what the cruise ships of the future will look like. At their delivery, they will have the best carbon footprint of the market, in terms of emissions per passenger and per day”

MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique also confirmed today the installation of a fuel cell pilot plant onboard the MSC World Europa known as Blue Horizon. The technology will use LNG to convert fuel into electricity at one of the highest efficiencies of any power solution available today, producing electricity and heat on the ship, the company said. 

The fuel cell technology selected by Chantiers de l’Atlantique (CdA) and MSC Cruises is the SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) developed by Bloom Energy.

The SOFC will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by about a further 30 percent compared with a conventional LNG engine without producing emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides or fine particles.

Anne Claire Juventin responsible for Quality Control from Chantiers de l’Atlantique, and Valentina Mancini, Brand Manager from MSC Cruises performed the traditional maritime ritual as godmothers representing the ship owner and the shipbuilder when they placed two coins under the keel as the historical sign of blessing and good fortune for the project, and the ship’s operational life at sea.

The float out of MSC World Europa, which will be the first LNG-powered vessel to join the MSC Cruises fleet took place at the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire where she will now be moved to a wet dock for work to continue on the ship until her delivery in November 2022.