Genting Hong Kong says Crystal Cruises lifts performance of its cruise operations in 2015

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 03 February 2016 03 February 2016

Genting Hong Kong, which acquired the luxury cruise operator Crystal Cruises last year, said the acquisition has improved the performance of its cruise operations, while its net profit for 2015 should exceed $2.0 billion in the wake of gains of asset disposals disclosed earlier.

 "The improvement in segment results of our “cruise and cruise-related activities” was mainly due to the acquisition of and additional profit contribution from Crystal Cruises as well as absence of certain non- recurrent promotional spending," the company said. It did not disclose fresh financial figures regarding the performance of the operations that comprise the Asia focused contemporary market company Star Cruises and Los Angeles based Crystal Cruises. It did not disclose its 2015 figures, which will due released in March.

In its interim report for the first half of 2015 which the company published on 22 September, Genting Hong Kong reported net profit of $2.16 billion, sharply higher than the $216.7 million figure in the same period in 2014. The 2015 figure was lifted by $2.17 billion worth of asset sale gains, mostly consisting of shares in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.

The cruise operations generated total revenues of $265.1 million compared to $258.7 million in the same period in 2014 and a profit of $0.3 million compared to a loss of $13.5 million. These figures do not yet include Crystal Cruises.

"The board of directors of the Company (the “Board”) wishes to inform the shareholders, investors and potential investors of the Company that, based on the preliminary assessment of the latest unaudited financial information, excluding the share of results of Travellers, the Group is expected to record a net profit of not less than US$2 billion for the year ended 31 December 2015, as compared with a net profit, excluding the share of results of Travellers, of approximately US$331.7 million for the year ended 31 December 2014," Genting Hong Kong said in a statement today.

SS United States Conservancy to unveil option agreement with major partner

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 02 February 2016 02 February 2016

The SS United States Conservancy will host a press conference to announce that it has signed an option agreement with a major redevelopment partner on Thursday 4, February at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal in New York.

“At the announcement, an exciting future for the ship will be revealed that envisions the SS United States again as an iconic symbol of America the world over. An artist rendering of the redeveloped ocean liner will also be unveiled. Conservancy Executive Director Susan Gibbs will join the CEO from the development partner to provide details on the agreement and plans for the ship's future. A brief question and answer session will be held immediately after the announcement,” the Conservancy said in a statement.

The ship was built in 1952 and it operated a liner service on the North Atlantic and some cruises for the now dfuncy United States Lines up to 1969. It was then laid up and various attempts to reactivate the vessel have failed over the years. The conservancy, however, does not plan to reintroduce the ship a sea.

MedCruise joins talks to introduce efficient and cost effective environmental charging

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 02 February 2016 02 February 2016

MedCruise, the international organisation with promotes cruising in the Mediterranean region, says it has joined cruise and other maritime stakeholders in Brussels to discuss differentiated port infrastructure charges to promote environmentally friendly maritime transport activities and sustainable transport.

The scope of the meeting organised by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport was to present the progress of an EU study assessing the various options that are currently applied in order to differentiate port infrastructure charges according to environmental or sustainability criteria.

The study is expected to deliver a guide to good practices with a set of principles and criteria that can be used by ports willing to implement, on a voluntary basis, efficient and cost-effective environmental charging.

Valeria Mangiarotti represented MedCruise, along with stakeholders from the maritime industries, port authorities and NGOs, participated in an open discussion, making suggestions to improve the final report.

Port representatives stressed that the majority of ports are already using the same index (Environmental Shipping Index) or certification (Green Award) to grant rebates to ships and there is scope to work towards facilitating further this convergence and maximize the effectiveness of differentiated charging. The question was therefore more to provide common instruments rather than to harmonise charges. Stakeholders noted that a purely harmonised and obligatory approach would not be warranted due to the lack of data and technical difficulties for ports to monitor themselves.

The final report of the study is expected by the end of March 2016. The findings of the study and the discussions with Member States will be reflected in the European Commission's input in the context of the trans-European network and the review of the maritime transport strategy.

MedCruise will provide further input, promoting best practices that will secure a sustainable and socially responsible growth of cruise activities in the Med and its adjoining seas.

Finnish businessman hopes to relaunch Swedish America Line - report

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 02 February 2016 02 February 2016

A Finnish businessman whose efforts to save the final vessel of the Swedish America Line failed plans to relaunch the company by building a vessel the company had contemplated after it had taken delivery of what was to be its last ship in 1966, a Swedish media report say.

Johnny Sid, the Turku based businessman, attempted to raise funds and secure a permanent berth at its former home port of Gothenburg in Sweden for the 1966 built former Kungsholm, which had last been used as an accommodation vessel in Oman and called Veronica.

However, the efforts failed, but he has now gained possession of the drawings Swedish America Line had for its planned next ship that it was working on soon after taking delivery of Kungsholm, the Swedish Shipping Gazette reports on its website. The design would have to be modified to modern safety standards and passenger tastes. It would cost about €300 million to build the ship, he was cited as saying

An image on the website shows a vessel quite like Kungsholm was after 1979, when P&O Cruises introduced it as Sea Princess after a major refit in Germany that included removal of the dummy forward funnel and extending the remaining one.

Swedish America Line was founded by Axel Brostrom, a wealthy Swedish ship owner, in 1915. For the first decade of its life, the company operated second hand and chartered tonnage. However, in 1925 it introduced its first newbuilding, the 17,000 gross register ton Gripsholm, which was one of the first diesel powered liner on the North Atlantic.

The company gained reputation as an upscale cruise operator, with its 1957 built Gripsholm and the Kungsholm of 1966 being regarded as one of the finest ships of their day, but it went out of business in 1975 after the price of oil had soared and inflexible trade unions blocked every effort proposed by the line to bring down operating costs.