MSC Cruises - Final Grade: "D+"
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MSC Cruises - Cruise Ship Fleet
Grading Methodology For The 2024 Cruise Ship Report Card
Friends of the Earth’s Cruise Ship Report Card ranks 21 major cruise lines and 243 cruise ships — AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Hurtigruten, HX|Hurtigruten Expeditions, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, P&O Australia, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean Int’l, Seabourn Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, Viking Cruises, and Virgin Voyages—according to four environmental criteria: Sewage Treatment, Air Pollution Reduction, Water Quality/Scrubber Use and Transparency.
Sewage Treatment
To determine a cruise line’s Sewage Treatment grade, we compared the number of cruise ships in the cruise line that have installed advanced sewage treatment systems (AWTS) against the total number of ships in the cruise line. Ships with AWTS have been downgraded from As to Cs since 2020 because no companies publicly report on the performance of those advanced systems.
Air Pollution Reduction
To determine the Air Pollution Reduction grade for each ship in a cruise line, ships that dock at a port and plug in to available shoreside power hookups were graded. In addition, ships were given credit if they utilize low sulfur fuels continuously worldwide at levels lower than required by international law. Ships were downgraded if they have adopted the use of liquified natural gas which emits significantly more life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions over the short-term than low sulfur fuel. Use of scrubbers is not considered since the significant majority of scrubbers in use by the cruise industry simply convert air pollution emissions into water pollution through their scrubber wastewater discharges.
Water Quality Compliance
To determine the Water Quality/Scrubber Use grade we only grade cruise ships in the cruise line that have installed exhaust gas scrubbers. Many cruise ships have installed exhaust gas scrubbers to reduce smoke-stack emissions and comply with cleaner fuel rules in the US and worldwide. However, while scrubbers reduce some air pollution, most discharge contaminated, toxic wastewater–trading one dirty pollution source for another. We fail ships for their use of scrubbers since scrubbers convert air pollution emissions into wastewater pollution.
Transparency
To determine the Transparency grade for each cruise line we graded each cruise line based on whether it responded to our 2024 requests for information regarding their environmental practices. Companies that responded with full specifics were given As, those that didn’t received failing grades.
The grades for each of the four criteria were averaged to calculate the Final Grade for each cruise line.
Grades In Comparison: Report Cards From Previous Years
2024 Cruise Ship Report Card
2022 Cruise Ship Report Card
2021 Cruise Ship Report Card
2020 Cruise Ship Report Card
2019 Cruise Ship Report Card
2016 Cruise Ship Report Card
2014 Cruise Ship Report Card
2013 Cruise Ship Report Card
2012 Cruise Ship Report Card
2010 Cruise Ship Report Card
2009 Cruise Ship Report Card
**For the 2024 Cruise Ship Report Card, we graded cruise lines and 243 cruise ships of those 21 lines operating around the world. All cruise ships from each cruise line were included in this report card. Friends of the Earth relied on data gathered from the internet, government sources, the cruise line industry, and other public sources in order to determine the grades assigned to the cruise lines. Friends of the Earth did not independently verify that the technology graded in the report card was installed on the individual cruise ships. The grades are based on information understood to be accurate as of September 18, 2024. It is possible that changes in practices by a company since that date would warrant a different grade.
MSC Cruises was founded in 1970 by an Italian shipping company. Headquartered in Switzerland, MSC Cruises is a subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Company, and it is one of the largest cruise operators in the world, along with Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. MSC Cruises currently operates 24 cruise ships and 22 of the ships have passenger and crew numbers ranging from 3,400 to 8,900 for its newest ship, the MSC World Europa. MSC has two new smaller expedition ships (Explora I and Explora II) that each accommodate 1,622 passengers and crew.
Of the 24 MSC cruise ships, 16 have installed advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a grade of D for the company’s 40% Sewage Treatment score.
Eighteen of MSC’s ships have shoreside plug-in capability and 14 currently travel to a port with shoreside power hookups. Additionally, MSC’s 2 expedition ships (Explora I and Explora II) burn fuel with a 0.1% sulfur content worldwide which is lower than what is required internationally. MSC received a D+ in the Air Pollution Reduction category for its shorepower installation and cleaner fuel use. However, 2 other MSC ships (MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia) burn liquified natural gas fuel which unfortunately emits significantly more life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions over the short-term than low sulfur fuel. Their use of LNG on its two newest ships lowered their overall Air Pollution Reduction grade from a C- to a D+.
Fifteen MSC ships have installed exhaust gas scrubbers giving MSC an F for Water Quality/Scrubber Use since scrubber use merely converts air pollution into toxic water pollution.
MSC Cruises is one of the cruise lines that responded to our inquiries about its environmental practices with specifics, awarding them an A for Transparency.