The world’s fastest growing cruise line, MSC Cruises, is expanding even more as they have confirmed an order for two more World class cruise ships. The World class are currently the second largest class of cruise ships in service at more than 200,000 gross tons in size.
MSC Cruises currently has one World class ship in service (MSC World Europa) with a second one, MSC World America, under construction and set to debut in Miami in 2025.
These two new mega cruise ships will be referred as World Class 3 and World Class 4 until they are officially given a name. They are scheduled to debut in 2026 and 2027 and the cruise line has yet to announce a homeport for either ship.
The cruise ships will be among the most environmentally friendly ships at sea and will be powered by LNG. They will be able to plug into shore power when its available in port. They will also have advanced waste systems and onboard energy efficient equipment to optimize engine use.
PortMiami will be the first port in the U.S. to have a World class ship serve as its homeport. The cruise line is currently building the largest cruise terminal in the country to accommodate MSC World America.
Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman, MSC Cruises, said: “We are proud to continue our 20-year partnership with the Chantiers de l’Atlantique, with whom we have already built 18 ships with our 19th under construction. The World Class is a truly innovative prototype and together we are building some of the most advanced ships in the world. We are committed to researching and investing in future environmental technologies as they become available, to ensure we continue progressing on our decarbonization journey to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”
Laurent Castaing, General Manager, Chantiers de l’Atlantique added, “At a difficult time for the European shipbuilding industry, MSC Cruises has shown its confidence in our abilities and skills with this order. We would therefore like to express our gratitude to MSC Cruises for its renewed confidence at this crucial time. In addition, MSC Cruises, always seeking to reduce the environmental impact of its ships quickly and significantly, has accepted a significant cost premium to improve the energy efficiency of these new ships which, according to the IMO’s EEDI index, will emit 50% less CO2 than the IMO’s 2008 benchmark.”
Castaing continued, “We would also like to thank our government, whose support for our R&D policy to make our ships greener has enabled us to meet the customer’s expectations for this order.”
MSC Cruises’ order for two more World class ships is subject to financing.
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