LNG supplies for MSC Cruises in Marseille

MSC Cruises and Total, already linked by an LNG supply agreement for the next cruise ships of the Swiss shipowner who has Genoa as the reference port for cruises in the Mediterranean, have finalized the agreement for the supply of LNG at the port of Marseille.

The first to be refueled will be the MSC World Europe, under construction at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France, which will be delivered in 2022. Construction has begun on the second ship of the LNG series at the same shipyard. will call MSC Meraviglia.

The agreement provides for the supply of approximately 45,000 tons of LNG per year. Bunkering will be carried out ship-to-ship and Total will use its second LNG tanker currently under construction. By 2022, Total will operate two 18,600 m3 LNG bunkering vessels in Rotterdam and Marseille and will share the use of a third bunker vessel in Singapore.

Total's tankers use the same LNG as fuel and provide for the re-liquefaction of the boil off gas. Last February 2021, the company also received a license from the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to supply LNG to the port of Singapore starting from 2022.

Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises, said: "This agreement represents a further step in our ongoing journey towards the continuous reduction of our environmental footprint, for which LNG is currently a crucial component. With this key agreement, Marseille will become the our hub in the Mediterranean for the refueling of our latest generation and most environmentally advanced ships".

Alexis Vovk, Total's president of Marketing and Services, added that the company will continue to intensify investments in LNG bunkering to achieve its goal of serving more than 10% of the global market. "In this way, we will continue to accompany the energy transition of the maritime sector and the reduction of carbon emissions of our customers, in line with our climate ambition to reach Net Zero by 2050".

"This agreement therefore has a positive impact not only on the city where the LNG refueling will take place, Marseille, but also on all the ports where cruise ships will make their future port of call in the Mediterranean", concluded Vovk.