The Europe-based megaship operator announced on Monday a trio of shipyard deals that will bring it at least six more vessels over the next few years — on top of six already on order.
The deals, with the giant Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, included a firm contract for the construction of a third and fourth ship in the line’s World Class series, to be delivered in 2025 and 2027, respectively.
MSC Cruises offered few details of the ships in the new series other than to say there would be four of them, and the total cost of the series would come to around $4.4 billion. Such a price tag suggests the ships in the new series will be quite large.
MSC Cruises is a division of privately owned MSC Group, one of the world’s biggest shipping companies. In addition to expanding its MSC Cruises brand, the MSC Group is investing an additional $2.2 billion into an as-yet-unnamed new luxury cruise brand. The new brand, which will operate yacht-like vessels, is scheduled to debut in 2023. Four ships for the brand are on order.
The Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard has built some of the world’s most famous cruise ships, including Symphony of the Seas and Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. It’s one of the few shipyards in the world capable of building today’s biggest cruise ships.
