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Updated: Diamond Princess quarantined for at least 14 days

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 03 February 2020 03 February 2020

Princess Cruises can confirm that the first phase of health screening of all guests and crew onboard Diamond Princess, by the Japanese Ministry of Health, has been completed. "We were notified that amongst the samples that have completed testing, 10 people have tested positive for Coronavirus," Princess said in a statement.

These 10 persons, who have been notified, will be taken ashore by Japanese Coast Guard watercraft and transported to local hospitals for care by shoreside Japanese medical professionals. It has been confirmed that the ship will remain under quarantine in Yokohama. The length of the quarantine will be at least 14 days as required by the Ministry of Health.

The ship plans to go out to sea to perform normal marine operations including, but not limited to, the production of fresh water and ballast operations before proceeding alongside in Yokohama where food, provisions, and other supplies will be brought onboard.

Guests will continue to be provided complimentary internet and telephone to use in order to stay in contact with their family and loved ones, and the ship’s crew is working to keep all guests comfortable.

Princess Cruises will continue to fully cooperate with and follow the instructions of global medical authorities and the Japanese government.

"We will also be cancelling the next two Diamond Princess cruises departing Yokohama (Feb 4 and Feb 12) and will begin notifying guests today," Princess said in a statement.

Princess Cruises confirms there are 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew currently onboard covering a range of nationalities. Approximately half the guests onboard are from Japan.

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Princess Cruises thanks the Japan Ministry of Health for their thorough review of the health status of guests and crew aboard Diamond Princess. The cruise line has decided to cancel the next voyage of Diamond Princess to help facilitate the health screening and records review process.

Diamond Princess was due to depart Yokohama (February 4, 2020) for an 8-night roundtrip cruise. However, the decision was made to cancel the cruise because of the time needed for the authorities to complete their comprehensive review.

All guests will receive a full refund. Each guest will also receive a one hundred percent future cruise credit.

"While this decision will be disappointing for our guests, we feel they will understand the commitment to continue to work closely with the health authorities because we share a common goal of looking after the safety and well-being of our guests, crew and the places we visit," the company said in a statement.

Princess Cruises confirmed there are 2,666 guests currently onboard covering a range of nationalities. About half the guests are from Japan.

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Princess Cruises has confirmed the turnaround of Diamond Princess has been delayed for approximately 24 hours to allow Japan public health authorities the opportunity to review the health status of all guests and crew on board.

On the previous voyage, a guest from Hong Kong, embarked in Yokohama on January 20, sailed one segment of the itinerary, and disembarked in Hong Kong on January 25. He visited a local Hong Kong hospital, six days after leaving the ship, where he later tested positive for coronavirus on February 1. While on the ship he did not visit the ship’s medical centre to report any symptoms or illness. The hospital reports that he is in stable condition and the family members traveling with him remain symptom-free.

"The safety, security and well-being of all guests and crew is our absolute priority. The review of the arriving guests and crew, by Japanese health authorities, is standard practice after a guest tested positive for coronavirus and we are working closely with the local authorities to provide detailed records to facilitate their review," Princess said in a statement.

Diamond Princess arrived in Yokohama early from a 14-day round trip itinerary, which departed from Yokohama (Tokyo) on January 20 and was scheduled to return on February 4. There are 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew on board. 

Princess will provide a further update once we have more information. 

Emerald Waterways to introduce sea going cruise yacht, targets growth in UK

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 03 February 2020 03 February 2020

Emerald Waterways, the UK based company in the Scenic group that is headquartered in Australia, will expand into ocean cruising by the introduction of a 100 passenger capacity cruise yacht Emerald Azzurra, the company said on its website.

It will enter service in July 2021 and operate its first season in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The company has published itineraries that run until February 2022. tHe cabins on the ships will range in size from 17 to 110 sq m.

Emerald, which operates nine river cruise vessels, also has plans to grow its business in the UK in the years to come, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Information on the company's website shows watt the 110 metre long ship will have 50 cabins, three bars and restaurants, a wellness centre, including spa, gym and sauna, three tenders and a Zodiac. There will also be a marina platform to allow easy access to the water for swimming and water sports. The passenger accommodation will cover five decks and the ship will have a crew of 64.

Emerald Azzurra is currently under construction at Ha Long in Vietnam and the Manchester based Emerald has a team of supervisors at the shipyard, the Daily Telegraph report said.

“We’ll offer an innovative boutique yachting experience. There are a few cruise lines in the yachting market, but we’ll have the edge because Emerald Azzurra will be a brand new yacht, and 88% of cabins will feature a balcony. The design will have a distinct nod to our river Star Ships. Loyal guests will know exactly what they’re getting,” Colin Downing, managing director UK at Scenic Group, was quoted as saying.

Updated - Costa Smeralda passengers disembark after no coronavirus found

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 30 January 2020 30 January 2020

Passengers have started to disembark Costa Smeralda in Civitavecchia in Italy after a feared case of coronavirus turned out not to be the diasease that has affected thousands of people in various countries.

"Six thousand people on board a cruise ship in Italy have been allowed to disembark after health officials said a Chinese passenger who had symptoms of coronavirus had tested negative," the BBC reports, referring to Costa Smeralda. The 54-year-old as well as her husband were held in isolation on the ship but tests confirmed she was not infected.

Genoa based Costa Crociere that owns the ship is part of the Carnival group and Costa Smeralda is the largest and newest vessel in the fleet of the Italian unit of the group. It was delivered from Meyer Turku in Finland in December and has a gross tonnage of 185,010.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a global health emergency.The death toll from the outbreak has risen to 170 in China.

"The Costa Smeralda cruise ship docked in the port of Civitavecchia, north of Rome. The woman who was suspected of being infected had reportedly flown from Hong Kong to join the cruise, and broke out in a fever while on board," the BBC said..

Yesterday, Daily Telegraph in London reported on its website: “Some 6,000 passengers have been banned from disembarking a cruise ship as tests are carried out on two Chinese passengers suspected of having coronavirus. The couple arrived in Italy on January 25 and boarded the ship, the Costa Smeralda, in the port of Savona that same day, a spokesman for the Costa Crociere cruise company said.

Comment: Shipping industry chases moving target in quest for cleaner fuels

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 29 January 2020 29 January 2020

For decades, the shipping industry’s notion that sending goods and passengers by sea was the most environmentally friendly solution was widely accepted.

However, as the new Millennium dawned, a growing number of observers started to point out that most ships used heavy fuel oil (HFO), which emitted lots of particles of sulfur and nitrogen, both of which are harmful.

As concern for the state of the environment started to worry a growing number of people, the shipping industry in general and passenger shipping companies in particular had to react.

Many ferry and cruise ship owners started to install exhaust gas cleaning systems onboard their ships, so that particle emissions could be cut while the use of HFO could continue as marine gas oil (MGO), a lower sulfur alternative, is much more expensive.

LNG was introduced an efficient way to tackle particle emissions and the first large cruise ferries using this fuel appeared in Scandinavia in 2013 and AIDAnova, the first LNG powered cruise ship, five years later.

As pressure mounted against them, authorities followed the public opinion and emission control areas that curbed particle emissions were introduced, such as one covering the Baltic and the North Sea in 2015.

However, in the meantime the public debate about the climate switched focus to green house gas emissions, such carbon dioxide (CO2). As LNG is a fossil fuel, burning it does emit CO2.

While this was happening, the United Nations’ maritime organisation IMO drafted global rules to limit particle emissions, which took effect at the beginning of this year. HFO can only be used if an exhaust gas cleaning system is fitted onboard, otherwise lower sulfur content fuels, such as MGO or LNG, must be used instead.

Torstein Hagen, founder and chairman of the Viking, has been a vocal critic of LNG, drawing attention to the fact that it does not offer a solution to eliminate CO2 emissions.

In order to go emission free, shipping will have to look at other fuels than oil or LNG, according to Hakan Enlund, EVP at the Finnish ferry builder Rauma Marine Constructions.

However, although various potential options have been tabled, there are certain conditions that they have to meet before they can be viable in marine use.

You can read more about the views of Hagen and Enlund in the next issue of CruiseBusiness.com Magazine, which will be published in the next few weeks.

ICCT report highly critical of LNG as marine fuel

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 29 January 2020 29 January 2020

The use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as marine fuel will result in higher green house gas (GHG) emissions than if marine gas oil (MGO) is used, states a report of International Council of Clean Transport (ICCT)

Using a 20-year global warming potential, which reflects the urgency of reducing GHGs to meet the climate goals of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and factoring in higher upstream emissions for all systems and crankcase emissions for low-pressure systems, there is no climate benefit from using LNG, regardless of the engine technology.

“HPDF (High pressure injection dual fuel) engines using LNG emitted 4% more life-cycle GHG emissions than if they used MGO. The most popular LNG engine technology is low-pressure dual fuel, four-stroke, medium-speed, which is used on at least 300 ships; it is especially popular with LNG- fueled cruise ships,” the report said.

“Results show this technology emitted 70% more life-cycle GHGs when it used LNG instead of MGO and 82% more than using MGO in a comparable medium-speed diesel (MSD) engine,” ICCT concluded.