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MSC Cruises to be supported by Blue-Ribbon COVID-19 Expert Group

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 06 July 2020 06 July 2020

Over the past months since temporarily halting its cruise operation in connection with the development of the global health pandemic ashore, MSC Cruises has been hard at work to develop a new health and safety operating protocol to support its return to service once the time is right.

Having set up a cross-functional task force comprised of in-house experts in the areas of Medical Services, Public Health and Sanitation, Hotel Services, HVAC and other Shipboard Engineering Systems, Information Technology and Logistics, MSC Cruises also engaged a world-renowned expert consultancy of Aspen Medical to further assist with the development of the Company’s own enhanced protocol and procedures.

Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises, commented: “Today I am pleased to announce that the work of our task force is being further supported by the formation and engagement of a Blue Ribbon COVID-19 Expert Group for consultation on protocols and planning, as well as bringing additional specialised advice to augment our own existing resources and knowledge.

“The objective of our Blue Ribbon COVID-19 Expert Group in the fields of Medicine, Public Health, and/or related scientific disciplines is to create a group of highly qualified and internationally respected experts to inform and review our initiatives as they relate to COVID-19 to help ensure that the actions taken are appropriate, effective, and informed by the best available science and health practices. For this reason, this Expert Group will have competency to review policy initiatives, technical innovations, or operational measures related to COVID-19. It will remain in place long beyond our return to operations to ensure we benefit from their know-how and input even as the situation continues to evolve and more data become available.”

MSC Cruises’ Blue Ribbon COVID-19 Expert Group has been personally formed by the Company’s executive chairman and includes: Professor Christakis Hadjichristodoulou, Professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine as well as its Vicepresident, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Greece; Professor Stephan J. Harbarth, Hospital Epidemiologist, Infectious Diseases Specialist and Head of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and Faculty of Medicine; and Doctor Ian Norton, a Specialist Emergency Physician with post graduate qualifications in Surgery, International Health and Tropical Medicine, currently managing director of Respond Global, formerly the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Team Initiative program from 2014 until January 2020.

Bud Darr, MSC Group’s Executive Vice President for Maritime Policy and Government Affairs, commented: “Since the early days when it came to the development of our new health and safety operating protocol, we have been in continuous consultation with regional, national and local public health authorities including, among others, those in Europe, US, Brazil, and China - both directly and through the industry association CLIA. To this end, some of the Company’s most detailed engagement and contribution took place with EU-level authorities responsible for public health, as it relates to cruise ships. This has recently resulted in the issuance of the EU Healthy Gateways interim guidance, amongst others, and that national health authorities across the Continent are currently reviewing.”

“Currently, our focus is on next-phase work with authorities – including those responsible for health, transport and the maritime sector – in countries overlooking the Mediterranean as they are examining the most recent EU-level and international guidelines and looking to incorporate them as appropriate in their own local requirements. This is in fact the region where, thanks to the improvement in the health situation ashore and return to travel by citizens, we currently expect a potential resumption of cruise operation following the now nearly completed and successful reopening of other travel and leisure activities across the region.”

MSC Cruises’ new operating protocol – details of which will be announced soon - has been designed to meet and exceed guidelines provided by key international and regional regulatory and technical bodies including the World Health Organization, the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action and European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), as well as regulations set forth by many of the governments in the countries in which MSC Cruises ships operate.

Bud Darr concluded: “To this end, we also have engaged a specialised maritime classification society to provide third-party verification that our protocols and procedures meet established EU-level guidance.”

With its new health and safety protocol, MSC Cruises has worked to encompass every aspect of the guest’s journey from the moment of booking to embarkation, life on board and through to the return back home, whilst preserving the uniqueness of the guest experience.

In fact, MSC Cruises has had its global in-house taskforce from across the business in place to develop and continuously review its existing protocols and measures from the outset. MSC Cruises started rolling out increasingly strict measures from early in the crisis - in late January – by rolling out stringent health and safety protocols, which it continuously improved and enhanced to protect the health and safety of guests and crew as it worked to ensure their safe return home. This precautionary approach to health and safety to protect its guests and crew is at the heart of everything MSC Cruises does. And engaging market leading expert external support to develop this new protocol is a natural extension to this precautionary approach.

VP Operations Ferdinand Strohmeier leaves TUI Cruises, Benny Weidacher takes over

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 03 July 2020 03 July 2020

Ferdinand Strohmeier, Vice President Operations at TUI Cruises for almost nine years and responsible for the entire ship operation, is leaving the cruise company, to start as CEO at the Portuguese expedition cruise operator Mystic Cruises.

Strohmeier joined TUI Cruises as General Manager on board of the former Mein Schiff 1 in March 2011 and looks back on six successful commissions of newbuilds in his new position as Vice President Operations. As part of the management team he has decisively shaped both TUI Cruises and the Mein Schiff fleet in terms of product and service. "We very much regret, that Ferdinand Strohmeier is leaving us, thank him for all the years of trustful cooperation and wish him all the best and much success in his new position as CEO of Mystic Cruises in Portugal," said Wybcke Meier, Chairman of the Management Board of TUI Cruises.

As his successor, Benny Weidacher, currently Vice President Ship Operations at Pullmantur Cruises Lines joined TUI Cruises on the first of July 2020. Born in Austria, he has been in the cruise industry for more than 20 years and held various management positions both on land and on board, including at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Wybcke Meier: "With Benny Weidacher we are gaining an experienced cruise manager. We wish him a sucessful start."

Fincantieri unit acquires majority stake in Support Logistics Services

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 02 July 2020 02 July 2020

Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilder, has through its subsidiary INSIS acquired a majority share in Support Logistic Services (SLS), a company based in Guidonia Montecelio (Roma), specialized in the production, installation and maintenance of radar, satellite and radio communications systems for military and civil applications, the shipbuilder said in a statement.

“The operation falls within the Group’s strategy to strengthen its competence in high-technology activities. As such, it is consistent with the development plan conceived for the newborn Electronics, Systems & Software Division to foster and improve innovation, its main competitive strength,” Fincantieri said..

Last year, SLS had revenues of about €9 million, which is expected to further increase this year, almost half of the company’s 35 employees are engineers, systems analysts, design engineers and qualified technicians.

Fincantieri has undertaken several actions to diversify and expand its product and service portfolio, steering it towards higher added-value solutions over the past few years.

This will allow the company to gain direct access to a pool of highly qualified resources, to set up a high-technology center of excellence, while, at the same time, enabling SLS to further boost its industrial growth and its turnover.

Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, commented: “This operation fits into our far-reaching strategy to consolidate and safeguard a supply chain made up of small and medium-sized enterprises. A dedicated corporate division will coordinate the various companies, which will continue to operate independently according to their intrinsic business approaches. This will allow them to retain key resources, expanding the pool of expertise of our Group”.

The closing of the transaction is subject to the usual conditions envisaged for comparable operations, as well as to the Italian Government refraining from exercising the “golden power” and to obtaining all the necessary authorizations from the relevant authorities.

CLIA and member lines welcome EU move to resume cruising in Europe

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 01 July 2020 01 July 2020

Cruise Lines’ International Association (CLIA) and its member lines welcome the publication by EU Healthy Gateways of its Interim Guidance for Restarting Cruise Operations. “This is an important marker in the possible resumption of cruising in Europe,” CLIA said in a statement.

“CLIA and its member lines have been actively engaged in the development of this Guidance and will continue to work with EU Healthy Gateways to assess the practicality and suitability of the guidance as a pan-European framework moving forward,” the organisation said.

CLIA said its member lines are currently identifying appropriate protocols, based on evolving guidance from health authorities and medical experts, that cover passengers from the time of booking their cruise, to the holiday itself and their safe return home. The guidance published today will help to inform these protocols and provide another level of trust for our customers and crew.

Speaking on behalf of CLIA Europe, Tom Boardley, Secretary-General stated: “The primary concern of CLIA and its member lines is the health and safety of its passengers and crew. This guidance from the public health authorities in Europe provides a useful resource for cruise lines as they prepare to resume operations.”

CLIA members envisage that there will be a gradual, phased-in approach to resumption of operations. Full resumption will also be dependent on a variety of factors, including international, national, and/or local arrangements, the status of the continued spread of COVID-19 in specific locales, and advancements in detection, treatment, and prevention.

Banks release €175 million in funding for MV Werften

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 30 June 2020 30 June 2020

A group of banks has released €175 million in interim funding for MV Werften, the German cruise ship builder owned by Genting Hong Kong, the state government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern said in a statement.

The funding will ensure the liquidity of the shipbuilder from July to September, which means that it can e.g. settle all invoices of its suppliers and contractors due in this period.

Genting Hong Kong had placed €260 million on a “locked box” account, which means the funds could be released in case of a crisis to ensure continuation of work on ships on order at the shipbuilder. A total of 17 banks control the funds and the same banks finance the shipyard’s orderbook, the state said.