MSC Cruises eyes wind power for ships

Swiss-Italian cruise company MSC Cruise has announced it will explore the possibility of building a wind-powered vessel for its passenger ship fleet.

MSC Cruises on Monday signed a slew of contracts and agreements with French shipyard Chantiers de l'Atlantique, among which is a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of a prototype ship class concept that will allow the partners to “explore opportunities that wind power and other advanced technologies could bring to passenger shipping.”

The Saint-Nazaire-based shipbuilder will also construct MSC’s third and fourth LNG-powered cruise ships under a separate deal and develop a new prototype class of LNG-powered vessel under another MoU, MSC Cruises said.

Combined, all these projects represent an investment surpassing EUR 6.5 billion (USD 7.2bn).

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.11)

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