Good news for the Atlantic shipyards of Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique). Another one, you could say, as the order book is always full. The Italian-Swiss group MSC has placed an order for two billion euros for two new ships to be delivered in 2025 and 2027. This firm order is accompanied by the signing of two memoranda of understanding with the shipyards, potentially covering 4 billion euros of additional investment.
According to Ouest France, Gianluigi Aponte, president of MSC and Pierfrancesco Vago, CEO of the cruise subsidiary of MSC, will be received on Monday by Édouard Philippe and the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire as part of the "Choose France" summit, an event devoted to the attractiveness of France for foreign investments and organized at the Palace of Versailles.
Also according to the regional daily, these signatures will also relate to financing contracts concerning the four liners of the World Class series. The French State should provide its guarantee for the construction. Two of these ships had already been ordered by MSC in 2017 for deliveries in 2022 and 2024. The order for two billion euros announced on Sunday concerns two other cruise ships of this series. The construction of these will generate "14 million hours of work, corresponding to 2,400 jobs for three and a half years," says the Elysee.
World Class: #MSC unveils its future liners at #GNL https://t.co/Hkwe1YFE7r via @MeretMarine # cruise #voyage #vacances pic.twitter.com/5ftGpOYJev
- Cedric Cailteux | Luxury Cruises (@CroisiereDeLuxe) June 1, 2017Liquefied natural gas propulsion
The World Class series liners will be the first built in France to be fitted with liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion. LNG is a fuel that does not emit sulfur dioxide and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 20%, and fine particles by more than 95%.
330 meters long, they can accommodate up to 6,800 passengers. The cutting ceremony for the inaugural sheet of the MSC Europa, the first of the four liners of the World Class series to be built in Saint-Nazaire, took place on October 31. Currently, around ten vessels are registered in the Chantiers de l'Atlantique load plan. The latter must thus inaugurate a new giant portal in two years to keep pace.
The agreement between MSC and the shipyards also provides for the development of a new class of LNG liners as well as that of a new prototype of boats propelled partly under sail, integrating in fact the "best environmental innovations" , the cruise sector being regularly accused of polluting massively.