Bohai Ferry may be acquiring another cruise ship

Details

Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: More News More News

Published: 20 October 2014 20 October 2014

Hardly had its cruise business started in earnest, the Chinese cruise line Bohai Cruise, a subsidiary of Bohai Ferry, is reportedly planning to acquire another vessel. Alan Lam reports.

According to its Hong Kong based general manager, Zhan Li, the company intends to expand its fleet “at an appropriate time”. At this stage Bohai is thinking about buying another vessel in the second hand market. It is also likely that it will order a newbuilding from a Chinese shipyard.

Bohai Ferry acquired Costa Voyager back in April and renamed the ship Zhong Hua Tai Shan, after one of the Five Great Mountains of China.

If this trend continues, China’s domestic cruise business will be a major capacity contributor in the coming years. Moreover, its distribution network is maturing fast. In September Ctrip, the biggest online travel agent in China, launched a online cruise booking platform in Chinese, providing booking services for global cruise products. More recently Shanghai also launched a similar platform, known as You You Tong, directly offering cruise ticketing and insurance service, among others.

Bohai Cruise will surely be one of the main beneficiaries on these services.

World's first LNG Hybrid Barge christened in Hamburg

Details

Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: More News More News

Published: 19 October 2014 19 October 2014

The world’s first LNG hybrid barge of Becker Marine Systems was christened with the name Hummel on October 18, 2014, at Grasbrook Quay in HafenCity Hamburg. The godmother of the inaugural event for the floating LNG power plant for environmentally friendly energy supply of cruise ships was Dr. Monika Griefahn, Chief Sustainability Officer at AIDA Cruises. The co-founder of Greenpeace Germany and former Minister of Environment of Lower Saxony has been involved in sustainability and environmental protection for more than 30 years.

"With this pilot project, Becker Marine Systems and AIDA Cruises are together setting an example for environmental and climate protection, not only for the city of Hamburg but also for the entire maritime industry," said AIDA President Michael Ungerer. "With the LNG hybrid barge, we have again demonstrated that environmental protection and economic interests are not a contradiction for us."

Thanks to the use of the floating LNG power plant, emissions and particle discharge will be significantly reduced. Compared to the use of conventional marine diesel with 0.1 percent sulfur content, no sulfur oxides and no soot particles are emitted. Nitrogen oxide emissions will be reduced by up to 80 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent.

As part of the inaugural event, the plug connection between the LNG hybrid barge and AIDAsol was successfully tested. With the start of the new cruise season in the spring of 2015, it is planned to supply the AIDAsol for the first time with electricity produced from liquefied natural gas (LNG) while it is berthed in the port of Hamburg.

All ships of the AIDA fleet which were put into service in 2007 or later are already prepared for the use of shore power. Since 2007 the company has voluntarily used only marine diesel with 0.1 percent sulfur content for the production of energy on board its fleet in the Port of Hamburg. This has been required by law for all seagoing vessels in European ports only since 2010.

In the summer of 2013, the company adopted an additional investment program in the amount of 100 million euros for the use of state-of-the-art environmental technologies. The core of the program is a comprehensive filter system for reducing exhaust gas emissions. With this unprecedented technology for exhaust treatment, emissions of soot particles, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides will be reduced by 90 to 99 percent for the first time. It is not just the two new AIDA ships that will be put into service in 2015 and 2016 that will be equipped with this technology developed within the Carnival Group. The ships of the existing fleet will also be gradually retrofitted with this filter system.

In the spring of 2016, the first ship of the new AIDA generation, AIDAprima, will be moored for the first time in its future home port of Hamburg.
AIDAprima is the first cruise ship with a shore power connection, a comprehensive system for exhaust gas aftertreatment, and a dual fuel engine. This can be operated with conventional fuel or LNG, depending on availability.

As a cruise line and tour operator, AIDA Cruises operates and markets one of the world’s most state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly fleets, currently comprising 10 cruise ships. The ships are operated in compliance with the highest international quality, environmental, and safety standards. The AIDA fleet will be expanded to 12 ships by 2016. Since 2007 the company has published its annual Sustainability Report, which is based on the international GRI standard.

China announces four cruise pilot areas

Details

Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: More News More News

Published: 17 October 2014 17 October 2014

China’s Ministry of Transport has named two cities and two provinces as cruise pilot areas - Tianjin, Shanghai, Fujian and Hainan – which,according to Yang Huaxiong, deputy director of the Water Transport Bureau at the Ministry,will be encouraged to develop their cruise businesses through expanding port services, training and building cruise industry chains.Alan Lam reports.

 

Under this project, China plans to develop three homeport hubs: the fast growing northern port of Tianjin, which has just extended its cruise season to November for the first time,will serve destinations in Japan, Korea, and eastern Siberia;the country’s premier port of Shanghai will mainly serve itineraries to Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau; its Xiamen and Sanya ports will have a focus on Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

Rhapsody of the Seas deployed to South America for 2015-16 season

Details

Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: More News More News

Published: 17 October 2014 17 October 2014

Royal Caribbean International has announced that its Rhapsody of the Seas will be deployed in South America, homeporting at Santos, next season, from 5 December 2015 to 10 April 2016. Alan Lam reports.

 

Aiming mainly at the Brazilian market, the ship will undertake seven-day cruises from Santos to Punta Del Este, Montevideo and Buenos Aires, as well as offering three and five-night mini cruises. It will also offer a one-off end-of-year eight-night cruise that will take in the view of the spectacular firework display at Copacabana Beach in Río de Janeiro.

 

As the general prospect of the cruise business fort the coming years in South America is perceived to be good. Royal Caribbean has high hopes for its operation in this region. It has planned a rich array of itineraries, in addition to the aforementioned seven-day cruises, for this South American season. 

 

Among the ship’s new programmes, there will be a series of 14-night itineraries covering Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. In February and March 2016 there will be four departures of this 14-night cruise; the ship will call at Valparaíso, Chilean Fjords, the Strait of Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Ushuaia, Cape Horn, Puerto Madryn, Beunos Aires, Montevideo, Punta del Este and Santos.