MSC Cruises has officially taken delivery of its new flagship MSC Seaview, the biggest ship built in Italy, measuring 12 storeys high and the length of 26 buses lined up bumper to bumper.
MSC Seaview will set sail in summer heading to the Mediterranean and in South America for the winter season, further strengthening the company’s position in two markets. It is the 15th cruise ship to join the MSC Group’s global fleet following MSC Seaside that was delivered in late 2017.
The new ship can board 5,331 guests and 1,413 members of the crew. MSC Seaview is the second ship in the Seaside Class and just like her sister ship MSC Seaside, is pushing the boundaries of pioneering shipbuilding and design.
MSC Cruises executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago said: “MSC Seaview will bring yet another new distinctively innovative MSC Cruises product to the market as she boasts cutting-edge design, and features the latest marine and environmental technology. She is an example of our commitment to bring the best and most innovative tonnage to the market, and our ambition to set each time a new standard in the industry.”
“The Seaside class is yet another brand new, highly-innovative prototype that we introduce – the 5th to date since we entered the cruising industry only 15 years ago. Moreover, I am proud to say, together with her sister ship MSC Seaside, it is the biggest ship ever built in Italy,” he added.
“We are increasing capacity at record speeds. MSC Seaview is the third ship to come into service in just 12 months. These are very exciting times for us, and we are already merely nine months away of the completion of our next ship, MSC Bellissima – the first of two Meraviglia class ships that will come into service over a six-month period next year,” he said.
Present in the delivery ceremony that took place at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy is Gianluigi Aponte, the shipowner as well as founder and executive chairman at MSC Group. Also present at the ceremony were Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises, other members of the Aponte and Aponte-Vago families, Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, as well as other regional and local authorities and dignitaries.
During the delivery ceremony, which pays tribute to an important maritime tradition, Roberto Olivari, Fincantieri’s shipyard director, conducted the important maritime tradition of handing over an ampoule holding the first water that touched the hull when the ship was floated out last year to Pier Paolo Scala, Master of MSC Seaview.
Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, stated: “We will remember MSC Seaview, without doubt, as an authentic undertaking. Just six months ago, in fact, we celebrated in this same yard the delivery of the largest ship ever built in Italy, MSC Seaside, a revolutionary prototype. Today we are repeating this success with her sister ship. This is an amazing performance, that we are extremely proud of, carried out thanks to the technical and managerial skills, which made us great and acknowledged as such in the world and which allows us to look to the future with renewed confidence.”
MSC Seaview is the third ship to be built under MSC Cruises’ EUR 10.5 billion investment plan which already saw the completion of MSC Seaside and MSC Meraviglia in November and May 2017, respectively. The newest addition to the MSC Cruises’ fleet will be officially inaugurated there in another ceremony on 9 June and will commence her inaugural cruise on 10 June.
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