MSC Cruises is continuing their journey towards environmental leadership and the cruise line has earned NAMEPA’s 2020 Marine Environment Protection Award.
This recognition praises MSC Cruises’ multifaceted environmental work and acknowledges three key sustainability milestones achieved in 2019: the start of construction of MSC World Europa, the first of up to nine latest-generation LNG-powered vessels to join the cruise line’s fleet in the next decade; the restoration of Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve in The Bahamas to its original, pristine state; and the meaningful steps taken to phase out single-use plastic items across the fleet of cruise ships.
In parallel, MSC Cruises recently published its 2019 Sustainability Report. Built on the MSC’s long-term ambitions, the report highlights MSC Cruises’ vision to become an environmental leader in the global maritime sector, draws a pathway for the Company to ever more fully embrace a sustainable future, and summarizes key sustainability milestones achieved in the past year.
MSC Cruises’ sustainability program is organized around four key pillars: Planet, People, Place and Procurement. This translates into a drive to continuously improve the fleet’s environmental performance; caring for all employees and promoting diversity and inclusion; working to ensure that the impact on the coastal communities that MSC Cruises reaches remains positive; and responsibly sourcing the products and services that the Company purchases.
Significant achievements in sustainability in 2019 for MSC Cruises include the following:
Starting construction of MSC World Europa, the Company’s first LNG-powered ship. With significantly reduced emissions, which will incorporate a ground-breaking trial of solid oxide fuel cell technology to further assist the development of this advanced technology towards decarbonization efforts.
The opening of Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve in The Bahamas, converted from a former sand extraction site into a destination with sustainability at its core. MSC Cruises is now working to establish a coral nursery and a marine laboratory on the island to support the regeneration of coral and ocean wildlife around the island. When completed, these two projects will become a central feature of guests’ experience on the island.
This year has also seen the efforts of the newly launched MSC Foundation become a key actor and an important vehicle to channel MSC Cruises’ charitable efforts and to further enhance relationships with the communities that its fleet serves. During Hurricane Dorian in The Bahamas in August and September of 2019, MSC was there providing humanitarian relief, delivering more than 250 containers of goods including water, rice, generators and building materials.
As business grew in 2019, so did the number and diversity of employees at MSC Cruises. Over 8,000 men and women joined the MSC Cruises’ family in 2019, from 124 nationalities. Beyond protecting the environment, sustainability also means supporting the people who work with the business and choose to travel with it, as well as the communities and places that its vessels visit and do business with.
