MSC to double fleet with new ships

Italian line Mediterranean Shipping Cruises is to expand its fleet with two new ships plus an option on a third. The vessels will be the largest in the company’s fleet with a capacity of 3,000 passengers each. Eighty per cent of the 1,275 cabins will have sea views and three quarters with balconies. The ships are due for delivery in 2006 and 2007 and will sail in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. The new orders follow the introduction of the MSC Lirica last year and a sister ship, the 1,756-passenger MSC Opera, to be launched in June. The addition of the new vessels will mean the line will have doubled its fleet by 2007. MSC will be operating five ships this summer. MSC UK and Ireland director Peter Pate said: “As well as the launch of our second new-build MSC Opera this summer, MSC has also expanded its itineraries for summer 2004 and we will be charting the Norwegian Fjords and Baltic capitals for the first time.” The line’s MSC Rhapsody will run two itineraries from Copenhagen from 19 June to 4 September before returning to the Mediterranean on 11 September. Report by Phil Davies