The maiden visit by MSC Cruises’ new MSC Euribia to the German port city of Kiel provided the ideal opportunity to switch on a new shore power facility.
Euribia is conducting her maiden season in northern Europe, with MSC Cruises having signed a special agreement with Kiel to utilise the shore power platform at the Ostuferhafen terminal and thereby minimise greenhouse gas emissions from its onboard power plants while in port.
The importance of the occasion was market by the attendance of senior regional dignitaries including the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Gunther as well as Ulf Kampfer, the Lord Mayor of Kiel (pictured).
The 17 million euro plant was formally declared operational, with the project supported by 11 million euro in grants from Germany’s Federal and State Governments. The new plant means shore power is available at all of Kiel’s cruise ship berths, with a capacity of 16MVA at Ostuferhafen which is sufficent to supply a cruise ship and a ferry simultaneously.
MSC Euribia is scheduled to call at Kiel 20 times next summer, while MSC expects to utilise the destination as a key port on itineraries for the years ahead. MSC Cruises MD Germany, Christian Hein, said utilising shore power was a key component in the company’s wide-ranging decarbonisation and environmental strategies.
“Together with the use of LNG as fuel, improving energy efficiency, using innovative wastewater treatment and waste recycling, we are taking an important step towards further reducing our impact on the environment,” he said.
MSC Cruises also utilises shore power in Southampton in the UK as well as Kristiansand in Norway, while trials have been undertaken in Haugesund, Bergen and Alesund in Norway as well as Germany’s Warnemunde. All of the line’s vessels built since 2017 have had shore power capability, while retrofits have seen about two thirds of MSC’s total capacity now equipped with the technology.
MSC Cruises Vice President of Sustainability and ESG, Linden Coppell, said “The inauguration of shoreside power at Kiel’s Ostuferhafen terminal is another step forward on our decarbonisation 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, decarbonisation, as well as reducing emissions from our vessels while berthed in ports.”
