Geneva-based MSC Cruises is poised to order four luxury cruiseships in Italy in a potential $1bn-plus deal.
The vessels will each have capacity for between 600 and 800 passengers and could be delivered in 2022 and 2023, according to industry sources.
It marks a move for the subsidiary of Gianluigi Aponte-run Mediterranean Shipping Co to build more exclusive vessels catering for far fewer guests than on its existing 16-strong cruiseship fleet.
Sources say MSC appears to be mounting a challenge to companies like Carnival Corp’s Seabourn and Manfredi Lefebvre’s Silversea Cruises, which already have similar-size luxury vessels of around 600 passengers on order at Fincantieri for delivery this spring and in 2020.
Price of the four MSC newbuildings has not been disclosed but they are likely to be in the same ballpark as Seabourn and Silversea’s 40,000-gt ships, which are reportedly costing around $270m and $370m, respectively.
There is talk that MSC’s vessels mark a development of its Yacht Club ship-within-a-ship concept, which the company describes as designed for guests looking for a cruise experience with added exclusivity and privacy.
Yacht Club facilities on MSC’s existing larger ships include, for example, butler service, private haute-cuisine restaurants and exclusive lounges.
“I think what they are trying to do is expand this [Yacht Club] concept to an entire cruiseship,” said one source.
Sources contacted at other leading European cruiseship yards told TradeWinds they had heard rumours about MSC working on such an order but were not involved.
MSC declined to comment. A spokesperson at Fincantieri said "at this stage it was only a rumour" and it also could not comment.
Delivery of the MSC newbuildings depends on when the contract is sealed but sources say if pen is put to paper soon, as is expected, delivery should be over the next four to five years.
Four ships that can carry several hundred passengers each may or may not have a significant impact on the luxury market, according to Morningstar analyst Jaime Katz.
"How that impacts that market depends on how they are marketed and where they are deployed," she said.
"And who knows what the economy will look like four years from now?" she added.
European yards have a huge backlog of orders including delivery this spring by Fincantieri of MSC’s 154,000-gt, 4,100-gt MSC Seaview, and from the same Italian yard two 169,000-gt, 4,500-passenger Seaside-generation vessels in 2021 and 2023.
The world’s largest privately owned cruiseship operator will also take delivery from STX France of the 167,000-gt MSC Bellissima; two 177,000-gt, 4,900-passenger newbuildings; and two massive 205,000-gt, 6,850-passenger units. They will be delivered between 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2024.
Total capital investment in those newbuildings alone comes to over $8bn. Only last year, MSC entered into service the 171,500-gt, 5,700-passenger MSC Meraviglia, at the time the largest ship to be built for a European owner.
It has been suggested that if Fincantieri in Italy cannot accommodate the latest, smaller luxury ships from MSC because of its orders backlog, then construction may be switched abroad to subsidiary Vard.
