MSC World Europa draws shore power in the Mediterranean

MSC Cruises performed the first tests at Valletta Cruise Port earlier this year and the experience gained contributed to refining the shore power implementation process. MSC World Europa will connect every week to the shore power facilities when it calls Valletta – a MedCruise member port – throughout the whole of next year and 2025. 

It follows recent successful connections in Northern Europe at Warnemünde in Germany, the Norwegian ports of Bergen, Aalesund and Haugesund, and Southampton in the UK. MSC Cruises earlier this year also inaugurated a new shore power facility in Kiel, Germany.  

MSC Cruises has been able to increase shore power utilisation as more ports have added electricity plug-in facilities.

Shore power plans 

As part of the line’s journey towards net zero greenhouse gas emission operations by 2050, it is committed to using shore power wherever the technology is available. Every new ship that has joined the fleet since 2017 has been equipped with a shore power connection and plans are underway to retrofit ships. 

MSC Cruises aims to add at least 15 new ports to its shore power plan between 2024 and 2026. The cruise line has signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance shore power facilities in the Baltic Sea area, and similar commitments are being pursued with other ports in the Mediterranean Sea.

More ports, as quickly as possible 

Michele Francioni, SVP cost optimisation & process improvement, MSC Cruises, said, ‘Our shore power plan demonstrates that we are fully committed to reducing emissions from our ships. Using shore power is a major step forward… We need more ports across Europe and beyond to introduce shore power as quickly as possible so that we can further reduce local air emissions.’ 

Francioni went on to say, ‘We will ensure our ships are ready to connect wherever the facilities are available to us. Connecting MSC World Europa to the shore power in Valletta is a proud achievement and we are grateful for the collaboration and excellent cooperation with Transport Malta, Infrastructure Malta and the Maltese authorities, as well as with the Cruise Port of Valletta.’