MSC Silvia Joins Fleet

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company today took delivery of the MSC Silvia, the latest of a brand new class of 9,400 TEU container ships from the leading ocean carrier.

Following today’s inauguration ceremony in Shanghai, MSC Silvia will join the Empire service between the Far East and US East Coast ports.

Built at the Hudong shipyard, in China, the new ship sails under the Panama flag.

As a family-owned group with a strong culture of maritime traditions, MSC’s new container vessels usually bear the names of relatives of MSC Group founder and Executive Chairman, Gianluigi Aponte, or those of the wives, mothers or daughters of MSC employees. Today’s christening of MSC Silvia honours the wife of Achille Staiano, a former MSC liner who is today Head of Commercial Services at MSC Cruises.

This latest container ship, which follows the deliveries of four 19,224-TEU Oscar class ships already this year, demonstrates MSC’s unstinting commitment to customer service. And it is further evidence of the MSC Group’s increased focus on China, following the September announcement by MSC Cruises of a new strategic partnership with China’s leading outbound tourism service provider, CAISSA Touristic.

Under the partnership, MSC Lirica will homeport in Shanghai from May 2016, marking the first ever deployment of an MSC Cruises ship in Chinese waters. MSC Cruises, already Europe’s number one cruise line, has been present in mainland China since 2010, working in partnership with the Shanghai International Port Group to bring Chinese cruise travellers to Europe. But this latest advancement signals an assertive new push into the booming Chinese cruise market and the further expansion of MSC Cruises’ growing global footprint.

 

 

MSC Silvia Facts and Figures

 

Length O.A                                                        299.9 m

Length B.P                                                         283.3 m

Breadth MLD                                                       48.2 m

Depth MLD                                                          24.8 m

Draft (design)                                                     14.0m

Draft (scant)                                                        14.5m

Builder                                         Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co. Ltd.

Service speed                                                     22.2 knots at design draft

Classification:                                                     DNV- GL

Deadweight at designed draft approx.          86,300 tonnes

Deadweight at scantling draft approx.          110,400 tonnes

Gross tonnage                                                     94,469 tonnes

Reefer plugs                                                           1,700