
While losses mounted throughout the cruise industry amid a global pandemic that brought sailings to a screeching halt in March 2020, at least one category connected to passenger ships has seen significant growth. The heavy-metal graveyard. In an effort to offset declining revenue, boutique cruises lines and industry behemoths alike sold older vessels for scrap. Ships familiar to cruise enthusiastsโlike Marella
Celebration, Cruise & Maritime Voyageโs
Marco Polo and Costa
Victoriaโall were beached and demolished. Meanwhile, Carnival had a veritable garage sale, selling a slew of older ships, many of which, like
Imagination, Fantasy and
Fascination, wound up as scrap. Then thereโs MSC Cruises. Though hardly impervious to the effects COVID-19 had on the industry, MSC didnโt flinch when it came to its big-picture plans. Its ambitious goal of doubling its fleet size (starting in 2017) in less than nine years remained on track with the launch in 2021 of
MSC Virtuosa and
MSC Seashoreโthe latter of which made a triumphant debut out of Miami last November. This year, expect to see the debuts of
MSC World Europa and
MSC Seascape (the sister ship to
Seashore). In all, MSC Cruises is scheduled to boast 23 ships by 2025. By that time, or even earlier given current projections, MSC would surpass Carnival in combined passenger capacity to become the second-largest cruise line in the world, behind only Royal Caribbean. โThe pandemic did give us the opportunity to re-evaluate. But the good news is that we didnโt change anything,โ says Ken Muskat, chief operating officer for MSC Cruises USA. โWe didnโt postpone any new builds, we didnโt sell any ships, we didnโt delay anything. Weโre on track to continue with the same aggressive new-build plan that we had pre-pandemic, because weโre that committed to the growth. โWeโre the fastest-growing brand in the industry. And we feel very confident about what weโre doing moving forward.โ Evidence of that confidence is reflected in the state-of-the-art terminal that MSC has planned for PortMiami. The roughly $400 million terminal, which the cruise division of MSC Group announced last year in partnership with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, will be able to accommodate upward of 36,000 passengers per day. It will be the largest terminal ever built at PortMiamiโalmost double the size of Royal Caribbeanโs recent โCrown of Miamiโ terminal. โTerminals are paramount; thatโs where the experience starts,โ says Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of the MSC Groupโs cruise division. โThanks to the Italian flair that Fincantieri will undoubtedly contribute to this project โฆ this new terminal will become a Miami landmark of style [and] comfort for passengers passing through whatโs considered the cruise capital of the world. โIt will serve as a platform to support and sustain the expansion of our cruise division across the region and in the Caribbean for years to come.โ The terminal, designed by award-winning architecture firm Arquitectonica, includes two new docks (measuring 2,460 feet overall), office spaces, and parking for some 2,400 vehicles; itโs slated for completion by December 2023.