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MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l'Atlantique signed an agreement for the construction of two new LNG-powered World Class ships. MSC Cruises already commissioned two ships of the same class to the French Shipyards with the MoU of 31 October 2018 investing over 4 billion euros totally.
The delivery of the four ships, the first of which, MSC Europe, is already under construction in Saint Nazaire, is expected in 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2027 respectively. The two companies have also extended their collaboration for the next 10 years with the signing of an agreement for two other similar projects that will bring the total investment of MSC to 6.5 billion euros.
MSC Europa and its sister, the first in the world, will be equipped with the latest generation of Wärtsilä engines, which for each of the two ships will supply five 14-cylinder 46DF dual-fuel engines fitted with nitrogen oxide reduction (NOR) units, two LNGPac fuel storage and supply systems, seven thrusters, and two fixed pitch propellers.
The ships will also be equipped with SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) technology, which operating at very high temperatures (~ 750 ° C), is the most efficient for high power marine applications and offers excellent electrical efficiency, up to 60% , and thanks to the reuse of the heat produced, its total efficiency - heat and electricity - can reach even higher percentages. This solution, powered by LNG, has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 30% compared to a traditional dual fuel LNG engines, without emissions of nitrogen oxides or particulates.
Deliveries of Wärtsilä equipment are expected in the middle of 2020 for the first ship and in mid 2022 for the second. With 205,000 gross tons, the MCS Europe will become the largest ship belonging to a European cruise company and the first LNG-powered cruise ship ever built in France.
The ship will measure 333.3 meters in length, 47 meters in width, 68 meters in height and will be able to accommodate 6,761 passengers, 2,139 crew members and will have a total number of cabins equal to 2,632.
“The agreements - underlines Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises - extend the time horizon of our investment plan until 2030. This plan is based on a long-term partnership with Chantiers de l'Atlantique, which has already seen 15 ships delivered in the past two decades and which will see other ships come to life on the Saint-Nazaire docks in the next ten years”.
Fonte: comunicato stampa MSC Crociere | comunicato stampa Wartsila
