MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique celebrate milestones

Posted on 4 January, 2022 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique have celebrated two milestones for the construction of the cruise line’s next generation of vessels.

MSC World Europa was floated out for the first time at the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Meanwhile, a traditional coin ceremony took place as the keel was laid for MSC Euribia, with Anne Claire Juventin, who is responsible for quality control at Chantiers de l’Atlantique, and Valentina Mancini, brand manager from MSC Cruises, performing the role of godmothers.

MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia will become the first LNG-powered vessels to join the MSC Cruises fleet next year, with the construction on MSC World Europa II due to commence in early 2023. The three newbuilds represent an investment of €3 billion ($3.39 billion) by the cruise line.

“Today is another important milestone in our journey towards net zero emissions by 2050 for our marine operations,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises. “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.”

Chantiers de l’Atlantique and MSC Cruises also confirmed that a fuel cell pilot plant known as Blue Horizon will also be installed onboard MSC World Europa. The plant will produce electricity from the ship’s LNG fuel through electrochemical reactions at its electrodes, unlike currently installed engine generators which produce electricity through fuel combustion.

The fuel cell technology selected by Chantiers de l’Atlantique and MSC Cruises is the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) developed by Bloom Energy. The SOFC uses ceramic materials, allowing operation at temperatures of up to 800C at the core of the fuel cell. This allows for electrical efficiency of around 60 per cent and provides the opportunity to recover significant heat from the exhausts, which will bring the overall efficiency of the system close to 90 per cent. The Blue Horizon pilot plant installed onboard MSC World Europa will consist of two 75-kilowatt modules.

The technology will be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent compared to conventional dual-fuel engines, without producing nitrogen oxide, sulphur oxide or particulate matter emissions. SOFC is also compatible with a range of fuels, including bio or synthetic LNG, methanol, ammonia and hydrogen. The operational data and technical feedback from the ship will be provided to Chantiers de l’Atlantique and Bloom Energy to enable improvements of the technology in the future.

“With MSC World Europa, we have designed and built a cruise ship with an outstanding level of performance and efficiency,” said Laurent Castaing, general manager of Chantiers de l’Atlantique. “The integration of this fuel cell demonstrator allows us to take a major step forward and imagine what the cruise ship of the future will be like.”

MSC World Europa has now been moved to a wet dock for work to continue ahead of her scheduled delivery in November 2022. The ship will spend her inaugural season in the Gulf region offering seven-night cruises from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Construction will continue on MSC Euribia, with a global design contest for artists to create artwork for the ship’s hull inspired by the sea and the marine ecosystem.

MSC Cruises To Test Fuel Cells on World Europa

Posted on 4 December, 2021 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique announced today that the first of MSC’s next-generation ships, the World Europa, will have two 75 kW solid oxide fuel cells onboard running on natural gas. The gas will come from the LNG that will fuel the ship’s main engines.

Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises, said in conjunction with the announcement that LNG will not only reduce the emissions of the new ship, but once green LNG becomes available on the scale, the ship will be able to operate at zero emissions.

For this reason, he said, he is encouraging producers, regulators and other stakeholders to accelerate its development and that of its supply chain.

In addition, he said that MSC is also studying other fuel technologies, such as hydrogen that could potentially be compatible with LNG engines.

Fuel cells offer another pathway and the two 75 kW units installed on the World Europa will serve as a test project in a real operational environment.

Today also served as the coin ceremony for another MSC ship, the Euribia, and to recognize the contributions of Valentina Mancini, corporate brand manager for MSC Cruises in Geneva, and from Chantiers, Anna Claire Juventin, who heads up the yard’s quality control, as godmother.

MSC Takes Delivery of Seashore from Fincantieri

Posted on 27 July, 2021 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Cruises has officially taken delivery of its new flagship, the MSC Seashore, from Fincantieri’s Monfalcone shipyard. According to a press release, the 4,560-passenger Seashore is the largest cruise ship to be built in Italy.

Sister ship MSC Seascape is still under construction at the shipyard and is due to come into service in winter 2022.

MSC said that an intimate ceremony was held to mark the occasion as tradition dictates at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone and was attended in person by MSC Cruises Executive Chairman Pierfrancesco Vago, other members of the Aponte and Aponte-Vago families, Giampiero Massolo and Giuseppe Bono, Chairman and CEO of Fincantieri, as well as representatives from MSC’s new builds team along with executives and workers from the shipyard.

During the ceremony, which pays tribute to centuries-old maritime traditions, Roberto Olivari, Fincantieri’s shipyard director, presented to Giuseppe Galano, master of the MSC Seashore, an ampoule containing the water that first touched the hull when the ship was floated out earlier this year.

“The construction of MSC Seashore is an investment that generates a direct and indirect economic impact of almost 5 billion euros on the Italian economy. At the same time, it’s coming into service also activates an important economic and employment driver for coastal communities and much beyond, generating a further significant economic impact every year for the tourism industry,” Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of the Cruise Division of MSC Group, said.

“Our new flagship is a further testament to our leadership in sustainability, with each new ship featuring the latest and most advanced environmental technology and solutions. Additionally, over and above our industry-leading health and safety protocol, the MSC Seashore is the first cruise ship in the world to feature a new and ground-breaking air sanitation system. ‘Safe Air’ uses UV-C lamp technology, eliminating 99 per cent of viruses and bacteria to guarantee clean and safe air for all guests and crew on board,” he added.

According to Vago, the Seashore demonstrates MSC’s commitment to “continuous innovation in terms of the guest experience.”

“She is, without doubt, our most stunning and sophisticated vessel to date and takes to a whole new level the already successful Seaside platform, with public spaces completely reimagined, a new secondary lounge and a broader offering both in terms of restaurants and retail options amongst many other new and much improved features. This will create a unique onboard experience for our guests this summer in the Mediterranean and during the Winter season when she will move to Miami to represent our full brand values with North American consumers,” Vago noted.

The CEO of Fincantieri, Giuseppe Bono, said that the MSC Seashore is the fourth cruise ship that the shipyard group has delivered in Italy during this “still extremely demanding year.”

“All these milestones, and others to come, have been successfully achieved and this is never taken for granted. This is why I consider this ship not only the best symbol of recovery for the whole cruise sector but also of the capability of the group to leverage its competencies and soundness to fully preserve our workload,” Bono said.

MSC has a long-term objective to achieve net carbon neutral operations by 2050. According to the cruise line, each new ship represents “another step towards this goal, alongside other investments to help accelerate the development of next-generation environmental technology.”

The MSC Seashore in particular features hybrid exhaust gas cleaning systems, selective catalytic reduction systems, achieving a 98-per cent reduction of sulfur oxide emissions and reducing nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 per cent.

The Seashore’s wastewater treatment system has been designed in line with the International Maritime Organization’s MEPC 227(64) Resolution and achieves purification standards that are higher than most wastewater treatment facilities ashore, MSC said.