MSC World America will have the lowest carbon footprint of any large vessel currently in service, according to its shipbuilders.
Henri Doyer, Chantiers de l’Atlantique program director, told a press briefing the new ship would overtake the current “world champion” – MSC World Europa – to become “the best of all the cruise industry”.
He added that reducing the environmental footprint was “paramount” and that new technologies and smart systems are introduced on every new ship for this purpose.
He forecast MSC World Asia, set to launch in 2026, to have an even lower carbon footprint, according to the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI).
Doyer said this was largely made possible thanks to the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gains in energy efficiency.
He claimed using LNG would reduce the ship’s carbon footprint by at least 10%, which could rise to up to 20% compared to traditional fuels with the addition of biofuels or synthetic LNG.
Doyer added nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate emissions would be reduced by more than 80%.
On the subject of power, he also mentioned that Chantiers de l’Atlantique and MSC Cruises were together “pushing” countries and port administrations to “accelerate” shore power development for the whole industry.
Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC Cruises executive chairman, said: “I want to give you the idea of the incredible effort that we are doing to have a future and a present that is sustainable.”
He added: “It is important for the cruise [industry] because obviously this is a solution, a platform, a model for tourism for the future, so this is obviously the intent that we have here.”
He revealed MSC Cruises was looking at other technologies such as fuel cells to incorporate in future.
Vago said: “We have a greater responsibility to ensure that whatever the hardware, afterwards what we will actually have is a sustainable approach which will be actual to 2040.”