MSC World Europa completes sea trials ahead of Arabian Gulf season

MSC World Europa, the newest and largest cruise ship in the MSC fleet, has completed her sea trials and will now head for final fit out and finishing ahead of her delivery and debut in the Middle East.

The giant LNG-powered cruise ship completed her first set of sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean, testing the performance of the ship’s engines, manoeuvrability, fuel consumption, safety systems, speed and stopping distances.

In the same week, MSC Cruises upcoming cruise ship MSC Euribia was floated out and has now been moved to a wet dock for interior work to continue on the ship before she also joins MSC Cruises’ fleet in June 2023.

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Both vessels are under construction at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, but they belong to separate classes. MSC World Europa is larger and the first in a new World-class for the cruise line, while MSC Euribia is the latest in the popular Meraviglia-Plus class.

Both vessels will be LNG-powered, and will be joined by a third, a sister ship to MSC World Europa, in the coming years. Construction on the ‘World-class II’ ship will begin next year. The cruise line is investing around $3.5 billion in the three vessels.

“We made an important pledge last year to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, leading the cruise industry on the path to decarbonisation,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman, Cruise Division of MSC Group. “MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia will play a fundamental role in this journey.”

“LNG is the cleanest marine fuel currently available at scale that reduces emissions significantly and also offers compatibility with future alternative fuel solutions for which we are actively investing in research and development, including a pilot LNG-powered solid oxide fuel cell onboard MSC World Europa,” he added. “If bio or synthetic LNG was available at scale today, both our newbuilds could operate with net zero emissions from the very first day.”

MSC World Europa will debut in the Middle East in winter for the 2022/23 season out of Dubai. This coming cruise season will mark MSC Cruises largest ever deployment in the Middle East, positioning itself as the region’s market leader.

MSC Euribia will spend her inaugural season in Northern Europe, cruising from the German port of Kiel with seven-night itineraries to the Norwegian fjords with calls including Copenhagen, Denmark; Hellesylt, Norway for the Geirangerfjord; as well as Alesund and Flam, also in Norway, among other destinations.