The MSC World Europa, the first French-built liner powered by LNG (liquefied natural gas), presented as the least polluting of the world fleet, was delivered on Monday in Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique), before leaving for Qatar where it will serve as a floating hotel during the World Cup.
“This ship represents a new step in the reduction of the environmental impact of cruise ships. This ship is the least CO2 emitting ship per ton of tonnage of the entire world cruise ship fleet, it is a world record,” said Laurent Castaing, CEO of Chantiers de l’Atlantique, during the delivery ceremony.
The giant of the seas, ordered in June 2018 by Swiss cruise line MSC, is 333 meters long, 68 meters high and can accommodate 6,700 passengers.
“Instead of the ship and propulsion being fueled by fuel oil, we replaced it with gas. So that means, in terms of environmental efficiency, at the same level as fuel oil, it’s 25% less CO2,” said Patrick Pourbaix, general manager of MSC Cruises in France.
The MSC World Europa also uses a prototype fuel cell, with a capacity of 150 kilowatts, a world first for a ship running on LNG according to MSC Cruises.
“We have on this boat, an area of the ship that we call the Yacht Club. It’s a bit of a special area, it’s a bit of a boat within a boat, a very nice formula, which can accommodate 300 passengers. Well, the equivalent of what a fuel cell can produce is what the Yacht Club needs
entirely”, explained Patrick Pourbaix.
– No “zero emission” ship yet –
“The liquefied natural gas, it allows to reduce almost entirely the emissions of sulfur oxide”, recognized Fanny Pointet, responsible for the maritime transport in France for the NGO Transport and Environment joined by the AFP.
But “the promotion of gas in maritime transport is not a good idea, because in terms of climate, it is bad, in terms of energy security, it is bad,” she said, insisting on the fact that “Europe is trying to emancipate itself from its dependence on Russia for gas.
“If we chose the natural gas option (…) it is because today it is the most accessible fuel. We could perhaps accelerate the transition to hydrogen. The problem is that there is not enough hydrogen on Earth today to fuel our ships,” said Patrick Pourbaix.
“Today, our order book only includes vessels that can use either LNG or methanol. Today, the “green” version of these fuels does not yet exist. But as soon as we have these fuels in zero-emission form, we will be able to use them and have zero-emission ships,” said Laurent Castaing.
The delivery of the MSC World Europa consisted of a blessing according to the Catholic tradition and a bottle was broken on the hull of the luxury ship, which will leave Saint-Nazaire on Wednesday morning for Qatar, where it will be inaugurated on November 13.
The organizers of the soccer World Cup “were considering building hotels, but obviously it’s only for one season, so they looked for cruise ships to substitute for hotels, because we can offer many rooms, and that’s how the conversation started,” MSC Cruises executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago reported to AFP.
“We have chartered two ships to Qatar and Fifa,” said Pourbaix. “The first two weeks, for the qualifiers, the boats are full, so much so that we’ve even put in a third, smaller boat that will round out the offering.”
