Switzerland’s MSC Group has firmed up an order at Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for a pair of luxury cruise ships that will feature hydrogen fuel cells, the two companies said on Thursday.
The 64,000-gt Explora V and Explora VI will operate in the company’s Explora Journeys brand.
The Geneva-based shipping giant’s cruise division announced signing a contract in July 2022 to deliver the ships in 2027 and 2028.
The ships represent one of a handful of efforts in the cruise sector to adopt fuel cell technology as auxiliary power to reduce emissions.
The Explora V and Explora VI will have dual-fuel main engines that can run on LNG or conventional bunker fuel, while using green hydrogen on the fuel cells to power hotel operations will allow the vessels to remain emissions-free in port.
The companies said the vessels will also be able to use bio and synthetic gas, as well as methanol.
MSC Group cruise division executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago said the confirmation of the deal comes as the company sees continued growth in the luxury segment.
“The investment in these two new ships shows our commitment to continue to grow within this sector as well as to invest in ships of the future,” he said in a statement.
“Together with Fincantieri, we will study the newest technology that the world has to offer and continue with our commitment to introduce these technologies to drive efficiencies across the whole spectrum of ship performance.”
The latest newbuildings are the fifth and six in a €3.5bn ($3.7bn) series booked by MSC for Explora Journeys.
MSC and Fincantieri did not reveal the price of the latest duo, so it is not clear how much more they cost than the four initial newbuildings.
The contracts for the Explora V and Explora VI remain subject to MSC finding financing for the vessels.
Fincantieri chief executive Pierroberto Folgiero said the MSC contract is a sign of the cruise sector’s growing vitality.
“In strategic terms, our future will depend on our ability to lead the evolution of the sector towards all energy and digital transition technologies with the entrepreneurship required to validate, industrialise and commercialise new solutions,” he said.
Also on Thursday, Vago called on the International Maritime Organization to “urgently look” at the Carbon Intensity Indicator regulation that he says unfairly penalises cruise ships.
Vago, who is chairman of the Cruise Lines International Association, told the Financial Times that he is engaging with the IMO to revise the formula that grades ships based on their carbon emissions, distance travelled and capacity.
As TradeWinds’ Green Seas newsletter has reported, the cruise industry trade group has complained that the regulation’s use of distance in the equation incentivises ships to travel farther and spend less time in port.
But Faig Abbasov, shipping campaigner at green group Transport & Environment, said the proposed revision is greenwashing.
“It’s a political issue of how they are trying to water down already inadequate IMO regulations through seemingly technical but ultimately very political correction factors, hoping nobody will notice,” he told the Financial Times.
This story has been amended to reflect that the July 2022 announcement for the Explora V and Explora VI stated delivery dates in 2027 and 2028, rather than 2026 and 2027.
