DIARIO DEL PUERTO THE VOICE OF CRUISE LINES 17 Mediterranean, five in the Eastern Mediterranean, five in Northern Europe, and one in the United Arab Emirates. The downtime experienced in 2020 was used by MSC Cruises to work on opening a new luxury market, which it has named Explora Journeys. This new line of business will include new itineraries and ports where MSC Cruises does not currently operate, such as Tarragona. For this new service, MSC will be building four ”Explora” ships, the first of which will be operational in 2023, with the last one ready by 2026. LNG, LITHIUM AND HYDROGEN BATTERIES MSC Cruises launched its sustainability project in 2017, through which it is making investments to reduce emissions from its fleet. In fact, as Pacheco points out, a large part of the ships under construction will be powered by LNG, such as the MSC World Europa and the MSC Euribia, which will be brought into service in 2022 and 2023, respectively, making them the first two LNG-powered ships in the company’s fleet. Looking ahead, the company plans to build at least three new LNGpowered ships, representing a total investment of more than €3 billion. However, the Managing Director of MSC Cruises in Spain recognizes that the future of shipping involves the use of lithium and hydrogen batteries, which requires not only building the ships, but also the relevant infrastructures in the ports”. In this sense, in order to make its sustainability project a reality, Pacheco points out the ”important investments that MSC is making to set up its own terminals”. In fact, work began in March on its Port of Miami terminal and will soon begin on those of Barcelona, Durban and Southampton. In addition, MSC Cruises is actively involved in several projects to develop and make new sustainable technologies viable, in partnership wi th regulators , universi t ies , shipyards and other major industry stakeholders. Furthermore, in 2021, MSC completed the ”Ocean Cay” project, through which it created a marine reserve on a private island, which it also uses as a tourist destination. On the island, the MSC Foundation has created the ”Super Coral Program” to protect and restore the coral reefs of Ocean Cay and Florida, through the construction of aMarine Conservation Centre.
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