On October 31, 2019, MSC Cruises officially took delivery of the new MSC Grandiosa-now formally one of the world's most environmentally-advanced ships-from Chantiers de l'Atlantique, a global leader in cruise-ship construction.
Present at the delivery ceremony to receive the carrier's newest flagship was MSC Group Chairman, Gianluigi Aponte.
The very same day saw the completion of another milestone for the Swiss-operated cruise line, as it held the traditional steel-cutting and ship-naming event for the first of its next-generation, World-Class vessels, to be called the MSC Europa.
The new World Class ship will once again be constructed by Chantiers de l'Atlantique and is the first of five LNG-powered (liquified natural gas) cruise ships being planned for the World Class category.
MSC Cruises Executive Chairman, Pierfrancesco Vago, who presided over the ceremony, said,"MSC Cruises has, since its inception, embraced a commitment to environmental stewardship, and ways to minimize and continuously reduce our environmental footprint, both at sea and ashore, with the use of innovative, leading-edge and effective technologies across our entire fleet. With each new ship, we raise the bar of environmental performance and our ultimate goal is zero emissions operations. MSC Grandiosa moves us another significant step forward in that genuine ambition."
He went on to affirm, "Today is even more significant as we begin the construction of our first of five LNG-propelled ships, which will further elevate our standards in environmentally-sound cruising thanks to this use of alternative fuels, as well as other cutting-edge technologies."
Vago heavily emphasized MSC's ongoing commitment testing the boundaries of innovation in environmental technology with each future addition to the fleet.
In conjunction with the naming of the new ship and cutting of the first construction steel, MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l'Atlantique also unveiled a ground-breaking, new research-and-development project called PACBOAT, which will focus on integration of a new fuel-cell technology demonstrator onboard the MSC Europa.
The demonstrator will showcase an energy-saving scheme that produces both heat and electricity using the LNG that also powers the ship.
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