MSC Cruises will develop a cruise-pier complex and beach club in Freeport in the Bahamas, an estimated $450 million investment, Bahamas prime minister Philip Davis said.
The Bahamian government and MSC signed an agreement for the project in January, Davis said, calling it "a serious expansion with real scale" that, in part, is intended to bring more cruise activity to Grand Bahama Island.
The project includes a $400 million development of a cruise berthing area and pier complex; an additional $50 million would go to creating the beach club and refurbishing an existing retail village, he said. Amenities will include a welcome plaza and retail, dining and entertainment venues.
MSC will also develop transportation throughways and other elements "designed to increase visitor flow, expand local business opportunities and strengthen Grand Bahama as a competitive cruise destination," the prime minister said.
MSC Cruises did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The agreement with MSC is meant "to capture greater cruise activity, higher passenger volumes and wider economic spillover into transportation, hospitality, culture and small business," Davis said.
Grand Bahama has been the site of much cruise development in the last few years. Previous plans to expand the Freeport cruise port include a deal with Royal Caribbean Group in 2019 that never came to fruition. But last year a Miami-based developer pledged some $800 million to transform more than half of the Grand Lucayan Resort's beachfront into a destination tailor-made for cruise passengers.
Grand Bahama is also the site of Carnival Cruise Line's new Celebration Key private destination. And it's been a longtime call for Margaritaville at Sea (which sailed to Grand Bahama for many years as Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line).
MSC Cruises, meanwhile, has also pledged to expand and upgrade its Ocean Cay private destination.