FOUR NEW SHIPS FOR MSC

Posted on 04/08/2016 | About France

France's government has announced a deal worth nearly €4 ($5.9) billion to build cruise ships and boost jobs at a politically emblematic French shipyard. Swiss-based MSC Cruises said it signed a letter of intent Wednesday with ship maker STX France for the construction of up to four ships. President Francois Hollande oversaw the signing ceremony at the Élysée Palace.

“We have just signed an unprecedented agreement with MSC Cruises which will give us a vision of our industrial capacity for the next ten years! 

We have had a good relationship with MSC Cruises for many years now, and this new agreement strengthens this further,” commented Laurent Castaing, STX France’s chief executive officer. “We have already designed four different classes for MSC Cruises – Lirica, Musica, Fantasia and Meraviglia – each with four ships, and now we are working together on this new generation of “World Class” ships. By 2026, that makes a total of 20 ships that will have been designed and built by STX France in Saint-Nazaire.” STX, part-owned by the French state and based in the Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire, was saved from bankruptcy by a controversial contract to build warships for Russia's navy. 

Hollande's predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy clinched the 2009 deal in a bid to save French jobs and reach out to Russia. Hollande, however, broke it off in 2014 over the conflict in Ukraine. Egypt bought the ships instead.