(TAN): MSC Cruises and Total have announced a supply agreement for approximately 45,000 tonnes per year of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to MSC Cruises’ upcoming LNG-powered cruise ships.
Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC Cruises’ executive chairman, said: “This agreement represents a further step in our ongoing journey towards continuously reducing our environmental footprint, for which LNG is currently a crucial component. As we prepare to launch our first of three upcoming LNG-powered cruise ships in 2022, through this key agreement we have now secured the refuelling support for our latest-generation and most environmentally advanced ships in the Mediterranean.”
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Used as a marine fuel, LNG sharply reduces emissions from ships, resulting in a significant improvement in air quality, particularly for communities in coastal areas and port cities. This agreement therefore impacts positively not only the place where LNG bunkering will take place, Marseilles, but also all the ports where the cruise ships will make their future calls around the Mediterranean Sea.
Total will bunker MSC Cruises’ LNG-powered cruise ships sailing on Mediterranean routes by ship-to-ship transfer, using its second LNG bunker vessel currently under construction. This vessel will meet the highest technical and environmental standards, using LNG herself as propulsion fuel and integrating a complete re-liquefaction of the boil-off gas.
