MSC Cruises signs LNG bunkering deal with Shell

The cruise-arm of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has inked an LNG bunkering deal with Shell Western LNG, a unit of oil supermajor Shell.

PHOTO: MSC Cruises' LNG-powered cruise ship MSC Euribia. MSC Cruises

Under the agreement, Shell will supply LNG to MSC Cruises’ cruise ship, MSC Euribia. The first bunkering operation under the deal took place in Rotterdam recently, the cruise line said.

“LNG is an important step forward in our ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” MSC Cruises’ executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago says.

To this end, MSC Cruises has invested in three LNG-powered ships - MSC World Europa, MSC Euribia and MSC World America. While MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia were launched last December and this June, respectively, MSC World America is set to join the fleet in 2025.

“The fuel (LNG) is one in transition and poised to make way for carbon-neutral bio-LNG and eventually synthetic LNG that we will look forward to using as and when they become available at scale as part of our longer-term decarbonisation journey,” Vago adds.

LNG has been gaining popularity among shipowners. The global LNG-fuelled fleet is currently made up of 438 vessels, with another 97 expected to join this year, according to classification society DNV data.

LNG can curb carbon dioxide emissions by about a quarter compared to conventional bunker fuels. But its methane emissions can be 36 times more potent as a GHG compared to carbon dioxide over a century, according to a World Bank study.

By Tuhin Roy

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