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Swan Hellenic reborn with two newbuilds from Helsinki Shipyard

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 22 July 2020 22 July 2020

Seventy years on from Swan Hellenic’s discovery cruise beginnings, the British born expedition cruise line is back. Its core values remain unchanged, as does the brand’s passion for exploratory cruising. Keen again to enrich inquisitive minds who want to discover incredible destinations, reconnect with nature and locals all the while sharing unique experiences.

Two state-of-the-art expedition ships are being built in Helsinki Shipyard Oy, Finland aimed at providing 152 guests an elegant, intimate and personal onboard experience delivered by 120 staff. The first ship will set sail for Antarctica in November 2021, the second will be gracing the water in April 2022.

Andrea Zito, Swan Hellenic’s CEO says: “I am proud to announce the rebirth of Swan Hellenic a pioneering iconic travel brand with the mission to be the leader in cultural expedition cruising” The new Swan Hellenic, retains its British heritage whilst being international in outlook. Aimed at the traveller, who wishes to explore, experience and enrich whilst the infinite beauty of the world and its inhabitants in a safe and sustainable way”.

Swan Hellenic is looking forward to building relationships with the trade. With Zito adding, “Swan Hellenic was always a family brand and we want to continue along the same line by inviting all cruise industry partners to become part of the new Swan Hellenic community”. All interested agents can register their interest at www.swanhellenic.com/partners

The company will launch with offices in Monaco, the UK and Germany to start with. The senior management team has more than 100 years of cruise industry experience led in the UK by John Warner (GAdventures/Trailfinders) and Mario Bounas (Royal Caribbean/The Langham), Alfredo Spadon in Germany (Silversea/MSC) and Andrea Zito in the Monaco Headquarters (Silversea/Vships).

For now, the website is live, and Andrea Zito added: “over the course of the next few weeks and months we’ll be releasing more information about a number of exciting developments from Swan Hellenic. We are back and we’re bigger and bolder than ever”.

The UK office for Swan Hellenic is near Buckingham Palace in Central London

Updated: First American river cruise line opens European cruising

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 21 July 2020 21 July 2020

AmaWaterways has announced it has resumed operations in Europe. The first U.S.-based river cruise operator to begin cruising Europe's rivers, it's trialed the effort on AmaKristina in Germany with German, Dutch and Swiss passengers, offering custom-designed five night Rhine River itineraries roundtrip from Cologne.

AmaWaterways has its sights set on a second ship and itinerary to operate on the Danube, in the moderately immediate future.

“Although many countries continue to have travel restrictions in place," says Kristin Karst, executive vice president and co-founder of AmaWaterways, "we have begun operating a series of sailings for European guests, in collaboration with an established German tour operator, e-hoi.  With these sailings, we have been able to put into practice and perfect our enhanced health and safety protocols while demonstrating that travelers can enjoy our unforgettable river cruise vacations with peace of mind.”

Europe's new normal?

New protocol developed to resume sailing was created to reflect in-depth recommendations from the EU Healthy Gateways guidelines, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), IG RiverCruise and other official authorities. River vessels, such as the 150-passenger AmaKristina, are limited to a maximum of 100 travelers. Crew members are required to wear face masks at all time. Passengers must wear face coverings when moving around the ship's public areas.

The new capacity controls mean that AmaKristina's restaurants -- The Main and the Chef's Table -- easily can accommodate healthy spacing. New room service options, typically somewhat limited on river cruise vessels, have been added. AmaWaterways’ ships have been designed with fan coil individual air cooling and heating units, which eliminate any recirculation of air in staterooms or in public areas and nearly all staterooms include balconies, letting guests relax there or on the ships’ spacious Sun Decks.

On land, several innovations introduced by AmaWaterways years before the pandemic include Quietvox systems that allow travelers to spread out and still hear guides' commentary and its well-established series of tours that offer outdoor activities such as hiking and cycling.

Steady effort in Europe

AmaWaterways may be the first U.S.-based river line to operate in Europe but the region is still off-limits for Americans. However, other European-based companies, such as Nicko Cruises, A'Rosa and CroisiEurope are all taking similarly cautious approaches as they have also restarted operations in a limited capacity.

Additional detail on the river line's health protocols can be found here: https://www.amawaterways.com/protocols. AmaWaterways plans to provide a further update on the status of its operations and of the future of river cruising on Tuesday, August 4.

We'll keep you posted.

Tasman government cancels agreement for two ropaxes with Finland’s RMC

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 21 July 2020 21 July 2020

Government of the Australian state of Tasmania has cancelled a plan to build two 55,000 gross ton ropaxes for TT-Line Company at the Rauma Marine Constructions shipyard in Finland and is now looking to build the vessels at home .

State premier Peter Gutwein was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) as saying: "On one hand we have a decision whereby we could see more than AUD850 million invested in a European country, supporting European jobs, providing what would without doubt be an excellent product."

"However on the other hand we had the opportunity to explore how much of that investment could occur within the state or within our country."

A taskforce, which will be headed up by Treasury with members from State Growth, TT-Line and the Federal Government, will spend the next three to six months looking into Australian options, the report said.

The ferries had originally been contracted with the Flensburger shipyard in Germany, but the builder’s financial problems led the Australian company to sign a letter of intent for their construction at RMC earlier this year.

RMC said in a statement that it would be happy to re-enter talks with TT-Line Company should the building of the vessels in Finland become an option in the future. The yard has two ropax ferries and four 3,900 tonne displacement naval vessels in its orderbook at the moment.

Australian yards have no previous experience of building passenger vessels of this size. However, the country has a major naval ship building programme in progress and although the vessels are mainly built to Spanish, French and British designs, most of the work is carried out in Australia.

Cruise & Maritime Voyages enters administration

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 20 July 2020 20 July 2020

Cruise & Maritime Voyages, the UK based destination focused cruise line, said it has entered administration after failing to secure funding to carry it over the Covid-19 crisis.

 “We are sorry to inform you that South Quay Travel Limited (“SQTL”) – which traded under the name Cruise & Maritime Voyages – was placed into administration on 20 July 2020. Paul Williams, Phil Dakin and Edward Bines of Duff & Phelps Ltd. were appointed Joint Administrators of SQTL. At present the Administrators are evaluating SQTL’s financial position,” the company said I a statement posted on its website.

The company started business in 2009 and it has operated its fleet of ships on charter from a Greek company.

At the time of its collapse, its fleet comprised of the following vessels:

Columbus, built in 1989, 63,786 gross tons

Vasco da Gama, 1992, 55,819 gross tons

Magellan, 1985, 46,052 gross tons

Marco Polo, 1965, 22,080 gross tons

Astor, 1987, 20,606 gross tons

Astoria1948, 16,844 gross tons

It was due to introduce next year two additional ships:

Amy Johnson, currently Pacific Dawn, 1991, 70,285 gross tons

Ida Pfeiffer, currently Pacific Aria, 1994, 55,819 gross tons

In addition to the UK market, the company operated in Germany, where it used the Transocean Kreuzfahrten brand, plus in Australia, Mexico and the US.