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MSC Cruises takes delivery of MSC Grandiosa, first MSC Europa steel cut

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 31 October 2019 31 October 2019

MSC Cruises, the Geneva based cruise line, said it has taken delivery of MSC Grandiosa from Chantiers de l’Atlantique in France, while first steel was cut for MSC Europa earlier today.

Earlier in the morning a second event took place with the traditional cutting of the first steel and naming of the first World Class ship, MSC Europa, by MSC Cruises’ Executive Chairman, Pierfrancesco Vago.

MSC Europa is the first of five liquified natural gas (LNG)-powered cruise ships on order and the first LNG ship to be built in France. The two events marked another important step forward in MSC Cruises’ long-term commitment to environmental stewardship both at sea as well as ashore.

In conjunction with the cutting of the first steel ceremony of MSC Europa, MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l'Atlantique unveiled today a groundbreaking R&D project named PACBOAT that focuses on the integration of a new fuel cell technology demonstrator onboard the LNG-powered MSC Cruises ship.

This demonstrator will produce electricity and heat using LNG. The announcement was marked by the signing of the consortium agreement between the various partners involved.

The integration of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology onboard a cruise ship is a world first.

This technology operates at very high temperature (~750° C) and is more efficient for high-power marine like applications than the low-temperature Hydrogen-based Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) solutions, used for instance in the automotive sector.

The SOFC technology offers a very good electrical efficiency up to 60%, and as the heat produced can be self-consumed on board, its total efficiency - heat and electricity – can be much higher, resulting in a direct reduction of energy consumption and therefore of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Meyer Werft hands over Norwegian Encore

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 31 October 2019 31 October 2019

Meyer Werft, the German cruise ship builder, said it has handed over the 169,245 gross ton Norwegian Encore to Norwegian Cruise Line, the contemporary market unit of Norwegian cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH).

It was the third and final unit of the Breakaway Plus class and the third delivery of a cruise ship newbuilding from the German yard this year.

The next newbuilding of Norwegian Cruise Line will be a 140,000 gross ton Leonard class ship from Fincantieri, which is due for delivery in 2022. The company has six of these ships on order at the same builder, with the final unit due in 2027.

DFDS – Moby Lines ferry deal falls through

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 31 October 2019 31 October 2019

A deal between the Danish ferry company DFDS and Moby Lines in Italy has fallen through as the Italian company has not been able to meet terms of the agreement, DFDS said.

DFDS had intended to acquire two ferries, Moby Wonder and Moby Aki, for deployment on the Amsterdam-Newcastle route, from Moby Lines.

The Italian company would acquire the two passenger ferries King Seaways and Princess Seaways that currently maintain the overnight service of DFDS across the North Sea.

“DFDS will continue to explore solutions for a renewal of the ferries on the Amsterdam-Newcastle route in line with the fourth pillar of the WIN23 strategy: Creating more value for passengers,” the company stated.

Fincantieri unhappy over rumoured investigation of Chantiers de l’ Atlantique deal

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 30 October 2019 30 October 2019

Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilder that is a major builder of cruise ships, has raised concerns over rumoured EU antitrust investigation into its acquisition of a 50% stake in the French shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique, unveiled earlier this year.

“With reference to the rumours published by several media on the alleged decision by the EU antitrust authorities to commence a further in-depth analysis of the Fincantieri/Chantiers de l’Atlantique transaction, Fincantieri strongly disapproves of such rumours, which have also negatively affected its share price today,” Fincantieri said in a statement.

According to the agreement between Fincantieri and the French government, will acquire a 50% stake in Chantiers de l’Atlantique, which has a large shipyard in St Nazaire, from the French state, which also agreed to lend a 1% stake to Fincantieri to allow it to take effective control on condition the company makes commitments on jobs, governance and intellectual property, Reuters reports.

"Fincantieri expresses its firm disapproval of such decision, if confirmed, particularly in case it were based on the alleged reduction of the European players from three to two, as previously reported. Following the transaction, there would still be three cruise shipbuilders in Europe, as opposed to the current four," the Italian shipbuilder said.

The four cruise shipbuilders Fincantieri refers to are itself, Chantiers de l Atlantique in France, Meyer Werft in Germany and Meyer Turku Shipyard in Finland. The two Meyer yards are separate legal entities, but they are controlled by the same interests.

Full orderbooks divert attention to ship upgrades – Wärtsilä

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 29 October 2019 29 October 2019

Full orderbooks at cruise ship building yards are turning the attention of owners to upgrade their existing vessels instead of placing further newbuilding orders, according to the Finnish technology group Wärtsilä tht has extensive foothold in the marine sector.

“Newbuild orders in all the major vessel segments have declined, with LNG carrier and cruise vessel segments being the least affected,” the company said in its third quarter interim report..

“Demand for larger cruise vessels has stabilised following the contracting of most of the major fleet replacement programs and the increased interest in the refurbishment of the existing fleet due to capacity constraints at shipyards,” the company said.

The outlook in the Marine Business was soft due to lower vessel contracting volumes and a decline in the demand for scrubber solutions from last year’s exceptionally high level. However, activity in the marine services market is expected to be stable, the company concluded.