GE has been chosen to be at the head of the Italian consortium that will provide power to two 5,300 passenger Seaside platform cruise ships for MSC Cruises. The latter were placed for an order at Fincantieri last May, with a possibility for a third vessel. The two new-builds will become part of the other 12 vessels belonging to the cruise line. All of them will be provided with electrical propulsion by GE.
The new vessels are 323 meters long, 41 meters wide and 70 meters high and possess a total tonnage capacity of 154,000 tons. That makes them the biggest ships so far constructed by the Italian shipbuilding company. According to GE, Fincantieri has selected a GE Marine technology that does not need both reactive power compensation and harmonic filters. That is why the technology enables better safety as part of the other advantages. The GE decision will also demand not that complex installation and cabling process. At the same time the smaller weight on board the vessels causes less fuel consumption and consequently a reduction of the operating costs of MSC.
According to Massimo Costa, VP and Head of Purchasing, Cruise Bureau, Fincantieri, the raising level of competitiveness of the market makes it important to keep improving with the provision of both more efficient and safer decisions. Emilio La Scala, General Manager, MSC Cruisetech has further added that GE Power Conversion supplies the optimal technology to make the operations of the company more simple.
Being at the head of the project consortium together with other Italian counterparts, GE will supply technology positioned on board of the vessel. The latter will include such items as distribution transformers, slow speed propulsion motors, VFDs central components and propulsion control along with transformers.