MSC wins the cruise-derby: “We’re Europe’s leader”

Genoa - “We are the leaders in Europe after a long ride, and we have strong numbers in comparison to our competitors: adding up the offer of Royal Caribbean, Princess and P & O, for example, nobody comes close to our levels.” MSC Cruises believes they have scored the winning goal in the competition between European companies: Gianni Onorato, managing director of the group led by Aponte, does not mention Costa Cruises, but when he rattles off the numbers from the annual report for 2015/2016 by Cruise Industry News that confirms MSC’s capacity of 1.1 million passengers, one cannot help but draw the conclusion that the Genoese company has lost; however, if all the brands numbers are added up, it would remain in pole position. “We have grown significantly in Northern Europe and achieved a record global growth in the two regions, including the Mediterranean: we have focused and invested heavily on the Eastern Shore,” said Onorato, “For example, we discovered Sochi while exploring new destinations. The others preferred to look elsewhere rather than to focus at home.”

The cruise market is beginning to seek new shores, in particular looking east to China. Costa, for example, will have four ships in the Asian market by 2016. Was first place achieved because of MSC’s strategy or simply because space was vacated in the market by competitors? “Both factors are true.” states Onorato, “It is a reward for a hard work started back in 2003, but it is also true that first you have to master your home market and then expand somewhere else.” As a matter of fact, MSC’s strategy goes in the opposite direction to other companies: investing in Europe, perhaps considered a saturated market, and in the US with the new Seaside class, where the company decided to fight the American giants in the Caribbean: “There is room in the traditional markets for us, I am certain: just look at the numbers,” said Onorato, “With the numbers available in the US market, we can easily carve out interesting spaces and for us, Europe is crucial. In Italy there is still room for growth, this year our ships are full and we have a record 20% growth. There is an important demand.”

The battle for China is also included in the company’s plans: for now, Costa Cruises and Royal are fighting for domination of the market, but soon MSC will also enter the game because, as Onorato explained: “It is inevitable,” he admits, “we are watching Asia closely, and soon we will be there too. In 2017 we will have three more ships....” It stands to reason that Onorato is also forming a business plan to expand in the East. “We want to grow even more, ours is the most impressive expansion plan for a single cruise brand.”

For now, under the MSC label, “We have a young brand that has existed since 2003, we have no plan and there is no need for a new brand with its own fleet.” Future investments in the terminal are always on the agenda, Onorato admits: “We consider everything and are always open to new opportunities, but take into account that this is not our core business: we have a stake in Brindisi, we are negotiating with Ancona and we will evaluate more opportunities in the future.” Even in Tunisia, there is an opportunity for MSC: “Two days before the attack we received a Tunisian delegation: we had development plans scheduled to start in December,” reminds Onorato, “Now the project has been suspended, but we still include Tunisia in our catalogue and we are confident that the situation will go back to normal by April 2016.” MSC’s round the world tour begins and ends in Genoa: “The Ligurian Riviera is our home,” concludes Onorato.