Total to supply LNG to MSC Cruises’ liners in Marseille

French major Total and MSC Cruises put pen to paper on a supply deal for the latter’s upcoming LNG-powered cruise ships to make calls in the port of Marseille.

Under the agreement, Total will supply approximately 45,000 tons per year of LNG to MSC Cruises’ vessels.

Commenting on the deal, Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC Cruises’ executive chairman, said, “This agreement represents a further step in our ongoing journey towards continuously reducing our environmental footprint, for which LNG is currently a crucial component. As we prepare to launch our first of three upcoming LNG-powered cruise ships in 2022, through this key agreement Marseille will become our hub in the Mediterranean for the refuelling of our latest-generation and most environmentally advanced ships.”

Alexis Vovk, president, Marketing & Services at Total, added that the company will continue to step up investments in LNG bunkering to ultimately reach its target of serving more than 10 per cent of the global market.

“By doing so, we will continue to accompany the energy transition of the shipping industry and the reduction of carbon emissions of our customers, in line with our Climate ambition to get to Net Zero by 2050, together with society”, Vovk said.

Used as a marine fuel, LNG sharply reduces emissions from ships, resulting in a significant improvement in air quality, particularly for communities in coastal areas and port cities. This agreement therefore impacts positively not only the city where LNG bunkering will take place, Marseille, but also all the ports where the cruise ships will make their future call around the Mediterranean Sea, Total noted.

Total will bunker MSC Cruises’ LNG-powered cruise ships sailing on Mediterranean routes by ship-to-ship transfer, using its second LNG bunker vessel currently under construction. This vessel will be using LNG herself as propulsion fuel and integrate a complete re-liquefaction of the boil-off gas.

By 2022, Total will operate two 18,600-cbm LNG bunkering vessels in Rotterdam and Marseille and share the use of a third bunker vessel in Singapore.

In February 2021, the company also received a license from the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to supply LNG in the Port of Singapore from 2022.