News

Helsinki fears 12% fairway due rise to hit cruise calls hard

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 25 August 2011 25 August 2011

The Port of Helsinki fears that a plan by the Finnish government to increase fairway dues by 12% from the beginning of 2012 will hit hard cruise calls to the city.

"We have done quite a bit of work to get fairway dues for cruise ships to a moderate level. And then comes this! We have made calculations about the effects of the cost (increase) and we inform the Ministry all the time. Obviously, we think that the negative effect will not be as minor one," Eeva Hietanen, head of communications and cruise development at the Port of Helsinki, told Cruise Business Online.

The port expects 270 cruise calls with a total of 370,000 passengers this year, which is broadly speaking line with the figures of 2010. Fairway dues are a tax levied by the government on ships using Finland's waterways. It is charged for each visit. The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications has included the 12% increased of the due as part of the government's 2012 draft budget.

Viking Line says newbuilding finance not in place

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 25 August 2011 25 August 2011

Viking Line, the Finnish cruise ferry operator that has a 58,000 gross ton cruise ferry of a new type on order at STXFinland in Turku, says financing of the vessel is not yet in place.

“Design work for a newbuilding that will be employed in service between Turku-Maarianhamina/Langnas-Stockholm has progressed according to plan. However, the European Commission as not yet approved a €28 million environmental grant granted by the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications. The environmental grant is an essential part of the financing of the vessel,” Viking line said in a statement.

It is the only major passenger vessel on order at the Finnish shipbuilder, save for P&O Ferries' Spirit of France that is nearing completion at the STX shipyard in Rauma.

Viking Line group reported a net profit of €1.3 million for three months to 30 June on revenues of €130.8 million, compared to €1.1 million and €126.9 million respectively in the same period last year.

“Marketing mistakes” sank Crystal Cruises’ load factor to 70%

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 23 August 2011 23 August 2011

CrystalCruises, the Los Angeles based luxury cruise brand owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha(NYK) in Tokyo, has lagged markedly behind peers in terms of load factor in the past few months, butefforts are in place to put things right, the parent company said in a statement.

“Othercompanies’ load factors for luxury class vessels are over 90%, but due tomarketing mistakes the load factor for the Crystal Cruises is onlyapproximately 70%,” an unnamed NYK official was quoted as saying in a transcriptof Q&A session of the Tokyo based shipping giant’s first quarter financialyear 2011-12 interim result. The quarter in question started 1 April 2011.

“So there is a lot of room for improvement. Wehave already deployed new personnel to bring about a 180 degree turn in ourmarketing, and are carrying out measures to improve the bottom line. At thecurrent point in time, we expect a profit from the next fiscal year, butultimately we will look at cash flows and make a judgment after consultationwith our accountants,” the official said. NYK published its interims earlier this month.

NYK’scruise operations that include NYK Cruises that operates the 50,200 gross tonAsuka II on the Japanese market in addition to Crystal Cruises, had revenues of7.1 billion yen and they made a loss of 2.3 billion yen in the first quarter ofthe current financial year. By comparison, a year earlier the figures had been 9.0billion and a loss of 1.3 billion respectively. Inthe financial year to 31 March 2011, NYK’s cruise operations made a loss of 2.6billion yen on revenues of 35.8 billion yen.