MSC Cruises celebrates double event at STX France

NOVEMBER 16, 2017 — MSC Cruises yesterday staged a double event at shipbuilder STX France: A traditional coin ceremony for the Meraviglia class MSC Bellissima and cutting of the first steel for the first Meraviglia-Plus class ship.

As part of the steel-cutting ceremony, Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises revealed that the name of the first Meraviglia-Plus ship, will be MSC Grandiosa.

“The Meraviglia generation of ships is already setting a new standard for the cruise industry and is just one of the three brand new prototypes that we have designed to bring the cruise guest experience to the next level,” he said. “MSC Grandiosa is named to signify magnificence and grandeur, a fitting name for this even richer, ultra-modern mega-ship.”

Mr. Vago said that the new generation MSC ships “will be once again at the forefront of environmental technology at sea. In fact, amongst other innovations, they will feature the latest hybrid exhaust gas cleaning systems, SCR catalysts, state-of-the-art waste management and recycling capabilities, emission-reducing energy and heat recovery systems, and highly advanced wastewater treatment.”

MSC Cruises is embarked on a nearly $10 billion, eleven ship newbuilding plan under which six new ships will have come into service between June 2017 and November 2020, doubling the company’s fleet capacity in just three and a half years.

In addition to the two ships under construction at STX France, two more are currently under construction at Fincantieri in Italy.

“Today as we celebrate a cutting of the first steel and then a keel laying in the same day, we are living an unprecedented experience that marks the beginning of a new era, both for our client and for our shipyard,” said Laurent Castaing, general manager of STX France. “For MSC Cruises, it is the realization of an extraordinary investment plan, which will elevate the company to become one of the three largest players in the global cruise industry; for us, it is the illustration of our very healthy order book, which leads us to deliver two ships a year until 2022.”

The 181,000 grt, 6,334 passenger Meraviglia-Plus ships are a further development of the successful Meraviglia prototype, which includes MSC Meraviglia, launched in June 2017, as well as MSC Bellissima.

MSC Bellissima