MSC Euribia at the weekend connected to the shore power facility at the Ostuferhafen cruise terminal in Kiel for the first time as part of MSC Cruises‘ flagship’s summer season from the north German port.

Kiel’s local power grid supplied electricity for all of the vessel’s operations while at berth to eliminate the ship’s direct emissions at the port with her engines switched off. 

MSC Euribia is scheduled to use shore power up to 20 times in Kiel during the sailing season.   

Bunkering of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel was also undertaken at Kiel before the ship set sail on her 7-night voyage to Copenhagen in Denmark and a range of Norwegian fjord ports.

This was the first time these two processes have taken place simultaneously.

MSC Euribia is one of four ships in MSC Cruises‘ fleet that will offer summer cruises in Northern Europe with MSC Virtuosa, MSC Poesia and MSC Preziosaalso taking advantage of shore power at ports during the season at Southampton, Warnemunde and Hamburg, respectively.

MSC Preziosa two weeks ago successfully connected to the shore power facility in Hamburg’s Cruise Centre Steinwerder for the first time.

Michele Francioni, Chief Energy Transition Officer, MSC Cruises, said, “We made a commitment to increase our use of shore power whenever it becomes available to us, and we are pleased with this new milestone we achieved in Kiel at the weekend and two weeks ago in Hamburg for MSC Preziosa.

“We now need more ports across Europe and beyond to provide shore power so that we can further reduce local air emissions. We will retrofit three additional ships in 2024 – MSC Magnifica, MSC Musica and MSC Splendida – with shore power connectivity to ensure that our ships are ready for plug into local electricity grids wherever the infrastructure allows. This further demonstrates our commitment to, and continued progress towards, decarbonisation, as well as reducing emissions from our vessels while berthed in ports.”

MSC Cruises’ vessels in 2023 connected to shore power with 44 port calls and by the end of this year the plan, based on the known availability of port infrastructure, is for at least 220 connections to local power, when 16 of line’s fleet of 22 vessels will be equipped with shore power connectivity.  

MSC Fantasia,  MSC Poesia and MSC Preziosa were retrofitted last year, and more ships will be retrofitted in the future as the ports on their sailing itineraries make shore power available.

MSC Euribia is the second ship in MSC Cruises’ fleet powered by LNG and one of the most energy-efficient vessels in the industry. She began operations in June 2023 following MSC World Europa’s launch in December 2022.

MSC Cruises remains committed to LNG as a critical pathway towards maritime decarbonisation. Fossil LNG offers immediate greenhouse gas emission reductions compared to conventional marine fuels and a direct pathway to renewable alternatives like bio-LNG and synthetic renewable LNG.

The company has three new LNG ships on order, all in the World Class vessel design, with one option for an additional unit.

MSC World America will join the fleet in April 2025, MSC World Asia in 2026 and a vessel currently known as World Class 4 will be delivered in 2027 by French shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique.