MSC Cruises and the German port of Kiel officially inaugurated the Ostuferhafen Terminal’s shore power system last weekend during the flagship ’MSC Euribia’s’ call.
The inauguration ceremony at Kiel was attended by Daniel Günther, Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein and Kiel Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer, as well as representatives of the port management, technical partner Siemens, ’MSC Euribia’s’ Master Capt Christopher Pugh and senior representatives of the cruise line.
MSC Cruises signed an agreement in June this year for its ships to plug into Kiel’s local power grid when the vessels call at the port around 20 times next summer to supply electricity to hotel operations while at berth and reduce emissions.
‘MSC Euribia’ will also use Hamburg’s shore power facility during her winter 2023/24 winter season in Northern Europe.
Since February, 2023, MSC Cruises’ ships have used shore power at the ports of Southampton, UK and Kristiansand, Norway and successful test trials have been conducted at the Norwegian ports of Haugesund, Bergen and Alesund, as well as at Warnemunde in Germany.
Shore power capability has been fitted on all MSC Cruises’ new ships as standard since 2017 and together with retrofits completed on other vessels, 67% of MSC Cruises’ total capacity is equipped with the technology. More ships will be retrofitted as the ports on their sailing itineraries make shore power available.
Linden Coppell, Vice President Sustainability & ESG, MSC Cruises, said, “The inauguration of shore side power at Kiel’s Ostuferhafen terminal is another step forward on our de-carbonisation journey.
“We expect around 15 new ports between 2024 and 2026 to be added to the list of ports with shore power facilities that MSC Cruises can use to access the electricity grids in Europe. This further demonstrates our commitment to, and continued progress towards, de-carbonisation, as well as reducing emissions from our vessels while berthed in ports,“ he said.
‘MSC Euribia’ is claimed to feature the most energy-efficient cruise ship design and performed an industry first in June this year when she sailed from France to Denmark, demonstrating the potential to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions cruising through the use of renewable bio-LNG.
The four day voyage saw an overall saving of 43 tonnes of fuel by employing numerous optimisation and energy efficiency measures that enabled ’MSC Euribia’ to operate some 11% better than the vessel’s digital twin – an onshore virtual ship that reproduced the optimum energy flow and mirrored the fuel utilisation on board.
