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First cruise ship calls in La Goulette after seven years

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 28 March 2022 28 March 2022

La Goulette Cruise Port welcomed Spirit of Discovery, its first ship of the season, as well as its first ship in seven years to call the port.

Spirit of Discovery, from Saga Cruises, began its journey from the UK and visiting different Mediterranean destinations. La Goulette Cruise Port welcomed its 724 passengers with a celebratory parade of eagle handlers, national band & the traditional camels. As part as their shore excursions, the passengers visited La Medina, Sidi Bou Said, Carthage, Sousse and Kairouan.

La Goulette Village at the port was full of spirit with the shops filled with variety of local products that reflects the Tunisian culture. The restaurant and cafes that offer the local Tunisian gastronomy was filled with the visiting passengers.

Sami Debbich, GM of La Goulette Cruise Port, along with the attendance of the Minister of Tourism, Minister of Transport, Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs, Governor of Tunis, Head of Customs, Head of Police, the Ambassador of England, presented the “Plaque” at the traditional welcome ceremony to the Captain of the Spirit of Discovery.

Debbich commented: “We are delighted to once again see cruise passengers at our port. This is truly a reflection of our hard work. We look forward to a blissful season with 40cruise ships expected for 2022. As La Goulette Cruise Port, we will continue to offer the best services with all necessary health & safety measures to ours business partners.”

La Goulette is located in a coastal area that includes the ruins of ancient Carthage and the picturesque suburb of Sidi Bou Said, places that attract more visitors than Tunis itself. Home to several UNESCO Heritage sites, the city is a masterpiece of historical and cultural art.

La Goulette Cruise Port operated through a joint venture between Global Ports Holding Plc and MSC Cruises S.A. has started its operations in May 2019. The Port features berths with a total of 657mtr which enable the port to receive the mega ships such as Oasis, Excellence and Meraglivia-plus class cruise ships. The ISPS compliant port, offers services to cruise passengers with enhanced security operations. With two terminal buildings, La Goulette Cruise Port can easily handle the operations of the cruise ships.

Port Everglades explores shore power with FPL agreement

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 17 March 2022 17 March 2022

Broward County and its Port Everglades Department reached a $495,000 agreement this week with Florida Power & Light (FPL) to explore providing electrical shore power (also called cold ironing) to all eight cruise ship berths at the world's third largest cruise homeport. The agreement gives FPL the go ahead to begin design services required to construct a new electrical sub-station and power distribution facilities at Port Everglades.

"When we first explored shore power back in 2009, few of the cruise ships that came to Port Everglades were equipped to connect at that time, so it was premature to make a multi-million dollar investment. Now is the time as today's cruise ships being built for energy efficiency and the lines are retrofitting their older fleet with shore power technology," said Port Everglades Chief Executive and Port Director Jonathan Daniels.

He added that the Port will seek state and federal cost-sharing opportunities such as grants, with the balance of the project shared between the Port and the cruise lines.

The approximately three-month preliminary design phase includes assessing the capability and capacity of the electrical grid to determining the necessary electrical infrastructure upgrades required to effectively deliver shore power to each of the Port's eight cruise berths.

Construction of MSC Cruises’ terminal in Miami starts

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 11 March 2022 11 March 2022

Construction of MSC Cruises' terminal in Miami has begun with the laying of the first stone, the cruise line and Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilding group, said in a joint statement.

“The construction work, carried out by Fincantieri Infrastructure in what is considered to be the world capital of cruise tourism, will be the largest state-of-the-art terminal in the United States and one of the most important internationally, which will be able to simultaneously harbour three latest-generation and low environmental impact ships such as MSC Cruises’ future LNG-fuelled ships which are scheduled to become operational in the upcoming months, handling up to 36,000 passengers a day,” the two companies said.

Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman di MSC Cruises, stated: “This initiative represents a further important step in the long-standing and fruitful collaboration between MSC and Fincantieri. Together with other leading economic players of the "Italian System" such as Intesa Sanpaolo, CDP, Sace and Simest, we are partners of a project that honors the Italian know-how and engineering skills in the world, called upon to engage in the American cruise market. It will be the largest and most technologically advanced terminal in the United States, a new benchmark in the sector, as well as one of the most significant investments made in Miami. It will allow our Company to strengthen and further grow in the most important and competitive cruise market in the world”.

Giuseppe Bono, Chief Executive Officer of Fincantieri, commented: “The beginning of works on this big facility is the crowning achievement performed by our Group over the last years. We have been capable of further consolidating our relationship with MSC, based on innovation and constant improvement, and we have at the same time undertaken business initiatives that have enabled us to expand our competences, also with a view to offering our customers cutting-edge products and services. This new futuristic terminal will therefore not only be the expression of the very best that the Made in Italy brand can offer but also of the success of our business strategies”.

Port of Riga expects record number of cruise ship calls this year

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 07 March 2022 07 March 2022

The Port of Riga is currently actively working with the cruise lines to reschedule their current itineraries due to the cruise lines’ common position not to call St. Petersburg.

“With many attractive tourist sights nearby and three terminals, available for cruise ships, we are able to accommodate many more cruise ships than initially planned. As the process is ongoing and situation is changing day by day, it is hard to identify the exact number of calls the port may gain, but provisionally it might be about 50% more than planned," says Jelena Burdastova, Business Support Specialist of the Freeport of Riga Authority.

A record number of cruise ships is expected at the port of Riga in 2022. “This year's cruise ship schedule clearly indicates a positive recovery of the cruise industry. At the same time, it is the result of relentless work of the Freeport of Riga Authority and its partners, who have been working systematically with international industry associations, cruise companies and ship agents throughout the pandemic with the aim to highlight Riga's benefits and excellence on the cruise route map," said Viesturs Zeps, Chairman of the Freeport of Riga Board.

Twelve vessels plan to visit the port of Riga for the first time, including the largest of them – the 15-deck ship Voyager of the Seas of the cruise company Royal Caribbean International. It is 311.1 meters long and can carry more than 3,600 passengers at a time.

The first cruise ship in the port of Riga this season is expected on April 13. It will be the German liner Hamburg of the German cruise company Plantours Kreuzfahrten with about 400 passengers on board.

It is expected that this year we will be able to see bigger ships in Riga than before, and good news are that 25 cruise ships plan to stay in the port of Riga longer – two days. The highest number of expected calls is from the U.S. and German cruise companies.

For several years the Freeport of Riga Authority has been a member of various international associations – Cruise Europe, Cruise Lines International Association, Baltic Ports Organization, The International Association of Cities and Ports (AIVP) and International Association of Ports and Harbors – actively participating in the agenda of the industry organizations. With the aim to foster successful marketing program, this spring the port of Riga and the city of Riga will once again be represented at the largest and most important exhibition of the world's cruise industry Seatrade Cruise Global, which will take place in the USA in April.

This year, not only cruise ship traffic but also passenger, vehicle and cargo transportation will be resumed – on April 6 Tallink's Isabelle will start its first voyage since suspension, thus resuming regular passenger and cargo transportation on the sea route Riga-Stockholm. Direct voyages connecting the capitals of Latvia and Sweden are scheduled every other day.

The updated list of cruise ship visits will be published on the website of the Freeport of Riga Authority www.rop.lv/en. The section “Ships in the port” - https://rop.lv/en/kugi-osta - provides more information about each vessel entering the port or a ship expected in the coming days.

The islands of Tahiti expect more than 1,100 calls in 2022

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 07 March 2022 07 March 2022

The cruise industry in French Polynesia, in The Islands of Tahiti, confirms a vigorous and ambitious recovery of activity. With small capacity ships, optimising itineraries and experiences in the different islands, luxury cruises, expeditions and mixed cargo ships show a forecast of more than 1,100 calls in 2022 in the five different archipelagoes.

A total of 140 roundtrip cruises are scheduled for 2022, involving ships of between 100 and 2000 passengers, with full cruises reaching 36 Polynesian islands departing from Papeete, where provisions and equipment supplies, all formalities and passenger turn arounds are handled.

“Even if the forecast occupancy rates are below the 2019 figures, all the islands, their population, tourism stakeholders and authorities are delighted and impatient to be able to interact again with the companies, the crew members and passengers. Resilience in the restart of the industry recovery is well underway in French Polynesia. We believe in this economic model, which has been ours for the past 10 years for the cruise industry,” said Jean-Marc Mocellin, General Manager of Tahiti Tourisme.

Despite the crisis, the hazards and constraints the pandemic caused for two years, The Islands of Tahiti managed to maintain a cruise activity, with ships doing turn arounds in Papeete, with rigorous protocols that allowed the epidemic not to spread.

The Tahiti Cruise Club (TCC) held its first annual general meeting in mid-February to inform all its members of the forecasts and the evolution of the situation.

Aranui, a Polynesian cargo passenger ship serving the Marquesas Islands, Paul Gauguin that has been taken over by the French company Ponant, and Wind Spirit, a sailing cruise ship belonging to Windstar, have sailed the waters of Polynesia in both 2020 and 2021. Their schedules are also effective for 2022.

In addition, many companies have already resumed or are planning major operations in French Polynesia in the coming months: Windstar with StarBreeze, Lindblad with Orion National Geographic, Oceania with Regatta and Insignia, The World, or Norwegian Cruise Line with tNorwegian Spirit. Beyond the more occasional operations planned, Silversea, Princess Cruises, Aida Cruises, Swan Hellenic, Royal Caribbean, Viking and Holland America Line are among the most loyal. It was also announced that Variety Cruises would be starting new operations in Polynesia.