Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri announced that the new MSC Cruises ship, MSC Seashore, had been floated out at the Monfalcone shipyard in Italy on August 20.
It marked the completion of a major milestone during the building and the first instance when the vessel entered the water. The yard will now conduct work for the interior fittings when the cruise ship is moved to the dry dock.
MSC Seashore is scheduled for delivery in July 2021. She is a part of the 4 liners in MSC Cruises’ Seaside Class of ships. The first two - MSC Seaside and MSC Seaview - were launched back in 2017 and 2018.
During the MSC Seaside delivery ceremony (November 29, 2017), MSC Cruises announced an order for two "Seaside EVO" ships from Fincantieri (contract value EUR 1,8 billion). The new ships are 17,330 GT tons bigger), 16 m (52 ft) longer, and with 467 more passengers (capacity) in comparison to the sisterships Seaview and Seaside. Deliveries were scheduled for 2021 May (Seashore) and 2023 February (TBN).
In early-August 2018, MSC signed an agreement for EUR 1,5 billion (USD 1,74 billion) for both Seaside EVO shipbuilding projects. The financing was via a partnership with a syndicate of three lender banks (Unicredit, BNP Paribas, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti). Fully backing the credit line was the Italian export credit agency SACE SIMEST. With the addition of Seaside EVO ships, MSC had an unprecedented total investment of EUR 10,5 billion into 12 newbuilds with scheduled deliveries by 2027.
On November 26, 2018, was held vessel's steel-cutting ceremony at Fincantieri Monfalcone Shipyard (Trieste, Italy), with which officially started its construction. The special event was attended by Pierfrancesco Vago (MSC's Executive Chairman) and Giuseppe Bono (Fincantieri's CEO).
Ship's keel-laying ceremony (aka coin ceremony) was held on September 19, 2019, at the Monfalcone yard. Ceremony's godmothers (madrinas) were two shipyard employees - Silvia Bozzetto (Production Planning and Control Commissioning Manager) and Marianna Cicala (Ground Services Planning Manager). The godmothers placed 2 special edition coins under the keel block (hull's first block) for good fortune. The special event was again attended by Pierfrancesco Vago (MSC) and Giuseppe Bono (Fincantieri). The vessel was launched (floated out from drydock) on August 20, 2020. The ceremony was attended by Giuseppe Bono and Pierfrancesco Vago.
Fun fact is that MSC EVO shipbuilding project involves 10+ million hours of construction works and ~4000 shipyard employees. The ship design features large play areas for children, Adventure Trail ropes course, an interactive aqua park with 5 waterslides, 3 glass-floored catwalks, Promenade Deck (at sea level) lined up with shops and restaurants (with both indoor-outdoor seating), glass-walled (sea-view) elevators.