Top Headlines

New AIDA ships to feature Mitsubishi’s air lubrication system

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 07 June 2012 07 June 2012

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) will install its innovative "Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System" (MALS) on two large cruise ships to be built for the AIDA Cruises, a German brand of Carnival Corporation & plc.

MALS is MHI's proprietary technology that reduces fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) by a layer of airbubbles blown out from the vessel's bottom. The application of the MALS for the two cruise ships ordered by AIDA Cruises was decided in light of the customer's keen interest in lowering fuel consumption and easing the burden on the environment. The system is expected to reduce the vessel's fuel consumption by approximately 7%. The event marks the world's first installation of MALS on a cruise ship. It is also a significant milestone for the MALS as the cruise shipping industry requires definite quality and performance on any devices so this first application in this sector further demonstrates its reliability to the whole shipping industry.

MHI received the order for the two cruise ships in November 2011. The 125,000 gross ton, 3,250 passenger ships will be the largest ever constructed for AIDA Cruises. Construction will take place at MHI's Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, with deliveries scheduled for the spring of 2015 and 2016, respectively. The air blown out by the MALS from the vessel's bottom produces small air bubbles which cover the vessel's bottom like an "air-carpet", which reduces friction between the hull and seawater during navigation. For the MALS, MHI uses special in-house developed high-efficiency blowers and state-of-the-art fluid simulation analysis tools to configure the arrangement of air outlet points to achieve maximum friction reduction at optimized air-blow volume. With these advanced innovations, MHI expects a 7% energy-saving effect. In 2010, MHI has already verified theperformance of the MALS with an approximately 13% fuel consumption reduction during extensive sea trials on two module carriers which was the first commercial application of the MALS for the vessel in operation.

Following the successful launching of the MALS on module carriers, MHI has completed a newly developed concept design for bulk carriers, a major marine transportation vessel, that enables anapproximately 25% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to conventional vessels, thanks to application of the MALS complemented with high-efficiency hull form and improved propulsion system. MHI will provide its conceptual design of this energy-saving bulk carrier for three grain carriers to be built for Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), a major U.S. grain handler.

Given the current trend toward adoption of international marine transportation rules for reducing environmental burdens, coupled with continuing fuel price escalation, demand for more energy-efficient vessels is steadily increasing. In response, MHI aims not only to further strengthen its marketing activities for new MALS-installed ships such as module carriers, bulk carriers and cruise ships; it also intends to promote business in retrofitting MALS to existing vessels. Simultaneously, the company will conduct focused marketing activities for its environment and energy-saving related technologies, including licensing of MALS technologies, and also build up its engineering business through provision of eco-ship related technologies and increased sales of energy-saving systems.

Norwegian Cruise Line signs memorandum of agreement to purchase of Norwegian Sky

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 01 June 2012 01 June 2012

Norwegian Cruise Line today announced the signing of a memorandum of agreement to exercise its option to purchase Norwegian Sky. The transaction is expected to close shortly.

The Company currently operates Norwegian Sky under a Bareboat Charter with a purchase option from Ample Avenue, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong Limited, a 50% owner of the Company. The purchase price is approximately $260 million pursuant to the option under the Bareboat Charter. Financing is being provided by the seller.

The 2,002-berth Norwegian Sky currently operates three and four-night voyages year-round from Miami, Florida.

Fincantieri delivers Carnival Breeze at Monfalcone

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 29 May 2012 29 May 2012

Fincantieri has delivered Carnival Breeze for Carnival Cruise Lines, part of Carnival Corporation & plc. The Carnival Breeze is the 30th cruise ship built by Monfalcone yard and the most innovative Fun Ship of Carnival, the world’s leading cruise ship operator.

Present at the ceremony were the President and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, Gerry Cahill, while Fincantieri was represented by both the company’s CEO, Giuseppe Bono and the Chairman, Corrado Antonini.

Measuring in at 130,000 gross tonnes, and at 306 metres long and 37 metres wide, the Carnival Breeze is sister to the Carnival Dream and the Carnival Magic, which Monfalcone delivered in 2009 and 2011 respectively.

With the construction of the Carnival Breeze Fincantieri further consolidates its position as record builder of the largest passenger vessels in the history of Italian shipbuilding.

Indeed the new ship has 1,845 passenger cabins in addition to 746 cabins for the crew, for a total capacity of over 6,200 people. A record figure for the ships built to date for Carnival by Fincantieri.

The Carnival Breeze embodies the highest standards of comfort and offers her passengers a wide range of entertainment on board, including bars, restaurants, theatres, shops and wellness centres. The ship features a completely renewed design, based on tropical atmospheres with warm colours and pastel shades. There is also a new approach to accommodation with the availability of a greater number of sea view cabins with two bathrooms, ideally suited for larger families of up to five.

Since 1990 Fincantieri has built 63 cruise ships, of which 55 for Carnival Group, and a further 5 are under construction at Fincantieri shipyards.

Cruise Business Exclusive: MSC plans year-round North America presence; sends first Fantasia class ship to Port Miami; discloses next generation newbuild project is on drawing board

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 25 May 2012 25 May 2012

It has been another banner year for the Geneva-based MSC Cruises, currently the fourth largest cruise line in the world. The company has just introduced its third post-Panamax-size Fantasia-class ship MSC Divina, taken over the contract of its half-finished sister ship at the French STX France shipyard, and announced the deployment of the MSC Divina in the U.S. homeport at the end of 2013.

In a one-on-one interview with Cruise Business Review, MSC Cruises CEO Pierfrancesco Vago had just received the “keys” for the company’s largest ship so far – the 139,400 gross ton and 3,502-passenger MSC Divina.

MSC Divina is the 12th ship in the MSC Cruises fleet. It’s the 9th newbuilding the company has commissioned directly from the French shipyard STX France (known before as Chantiers de’l Atlantique) since 2003. The company has expanded a staggering 800% since its first newbuilding, and it has also purchased two sister ships of its Lirica-class that belonged to now-defunct Festival Cruises. And just in March, MSC Cruises agreed to takeover the half-finished newbuilding, now called Preziosa, that was originally ordered by a Libyan company. Thankfully, the ship is based on the same General Arrangement as the MSC Cruises’ Fantasia-class ships.

Vago describes the MSC Preziosa contract negotiations as “extremely complex, where were a lot of third parties were involved.” Even with the same GA plan, MSC Cruises needed to tweak the design, and one of the early (and easy) decisions was to eliminate a shark tank that the Libyans had planned for the ship’s atrium. MSC Preziosa will enter service in March 2013, and will complete the company’s Fantasia-class.

After that, MSC Cruises will ply a very balanced fleet with four 59,800 gross ton Lirica-class vessels, four 90,000 gross ton Musica-class ships and four 137,000 to 139,400 gross ton Fantasia-class ships. Additionally, the company also operates the 1982-built MSC Melody.

MSC Cruises is not resting its laurels: it already has its next class of newbuildings on the drawing board. According to Vago, the ships will be shorter -- but wider and taller -- as dock space in European ports especially are becoming more premium. Vago says that with the new design the company will not need to compromise the high balcony ratio of Fantasia-class ships (of which sports over 1,000 balconied cabins each).

Vago was more tight-lipped when it came to discussing how the MSC Yacht Club would evolve in the future. Still, when it comes to the future deployments Europe will continue to be a core market for the brand, and therefore there are no immediate plans to deploy a ship in, for example, China. However, the company already sources passengers globally, as it had built a comprehensive network of its own offices around the world, including emerging markets such as China and Australia. However, he admitted that the company is looking closely at a variety of new market sources. Last winter season it traded in the Persian Gulf with Abu Dhabi as its base port – next winter season MSC Cruises will operate in the Red Sea, instead.

MSC Cruises will also take a major new step into North America at the end of next year when MSC Divina will replace Poesia as its Florida-based cruise ship. To facilitate the growth from the 90,000 gross ton Poesia to 139,400 gross ton Divina, MSC Cruises will move from Port Everglades to PortMiami. MSC Divina will alternate between the Eastern and Western Caribbean, and as new ports-of-call for MSC Cruises, will introduce Falmouth in Jamaica and NCL’s private island Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas.

According to MSC Cruises USA President Rick Sasso, the company expects to have a presence in the North American waters on a year-round basis beginning in 2014. MSC Lirica will offer warm weather itineraries to Bermuda and Canada/New England. During the winter season, MSC Lirica will be based in Guadeloupe.

Sebastian Ahrens to leave Hapag-Lloyd Cruises

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 25 May 2012 25 May 2012

Sebastian Ahrens, Managing Director, will leave the German cruise operator Hapag-Lloyd Cruises at the end of the year for personal reasons.

Ahrens has been leading Hapag-Lloyd Cruises since 2003 with responsibilities for product management, sales, touristic operations as well as marketing and public relations. Prior to his management position Ahrens was a partner at McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm, and involved in the strategic repositioning of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.

"We thank Mr. Ahrens for his dedicated work and wish him all the best and continued success both in his professional career and his private life," says Dr. Michael Frenzel, chairman of the Executive Board of TUI AG/ Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TUI Travel PLC.