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Unique Cruise Solutions The news you need to know |
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Cruise News for the Corporate Travel Professional |
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MSC confirms it will take over Libyia's newbuild as the MSC Preziosa |
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MSC Cruises has confirmed the completion of negotiations with STX
France to take over the 140,000gt newbuild originally ordered by Libyan shipping
company
GNMTC. The newly named MSC Preziosa will be delivered in March next year, taking the company’s fleet to 13 vessels. The price to MSC, after nine months of often tortuous negotiations, is put at €550m. The announcement brings to a close an even more protracted saga. GNMTC’s initial order two years ago for a vessel that was essentially a sister ship to MSC Fantasia prompted a flood of market rumor that MSC was involved at the very least indirectly in the order. In a somewhat ironic twist, it now sees itself taking possession of the ship anyway. MSC is also contemplating further orders. Indeed, it is thought close to ordering a new prototype that will be shorter and wider than the Fantasia-class vessels: industry sources suggest it will be 315mtr long and 42mtr wide, and include a significant expansion of its exclusive MSC Yacht Club concept.  Commenting on the Preziosa order, MSC chief executive Pierfrancesco Vago said
that when the vessel is delivered ‘we will have four ships of every class,
giving us a total capacity of over 40,000 berths and the strength to sail in all
seas.‘MSC Preziosa herself will sail the Mediterranean, exploring the beauty of Greek islands, which represents the highlight of European cruising.’ MSC Preziosa will thus join its sister ships MSC Fantasia, MSC Splendida and MSC Divina, which is to be delivered this spring and named in Marseille in May.  At hard-pressed STX France, meanwhile, general manager Laurent Castaing expressed ‘relief and real pleasure’ at the completion of the order, noting that the length of the talks ‘is the perfect illustration of the challenges faced by the cruise industry in terms of financing, which impact our industry directly. It is the new Achilles’ heel, after competitiveness, on which our efforts are now focussed.’ |
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