Ports & destinations

MedCruise and Princess Cruises in partnership project

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations

Published: 26 February 2016 26 February 2016

MedCruise, the organisation that promotes the Mediterranean as a cruise destination, and Princess cruises, which is part of Carnival Corp & plc, say they have decided to develop a partnership project.

“The joint project gives the opportunity to 17 MedCruise port members to direct benefit, be promoted and educated, via a number of initiatives that will finally reach the guests of the Holland America Group,” the two said in a joint statement. Princess Cruises is operationally part of the Holland America Group.

Ten initiatives are developed in this context: welcome videos for cruise guests, local experts port presentation videos, speaker series, exclusive guest experience in every port, new tour programs and framework, partnership port guides & walking maps, port welcome & departure experience, local artist exhibit & sale, cooperative marketing & public relations, film project.

The first phase of the project concluded in Barcelona the second week of February, where MedCruise port members, and associate partners at the respective destinations gathered in a Mediterranean style scene set by Princess Cruises to shot videos sharing experiences and the beauties of the destination to be explored by cruisers at their ports and destinations.

Dubrovnik announces new $100 million cruise terminal development

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations

Published: 24 February 2016 24 February 2016

John Pagni reports

The concession contract for the development, construction and operation of a new cruise terminal in Dubrovnik was announced on mid-February. State-owned Dubrovnik Port Authority has granted a 40-year concession to Dubrovnik International Cruise Port Investment, jointly-owned by Turkey's Global Port Holdings and Bouygues Batiment International, part of the French construction giant.

Work will begin in the Gruz area of Dubrovnik port, adjacent to the DPA's office building, in September-October this year and is scheduled to be completed before the end of 2018 at a cost of around $100 million CBR has found out. In return, DICPI's partners will get a 40-year concession.

DIPCI for its part will remove existing buildings including a large supermarket and clear the area to construct a modern cruise terminal, multi-storey garage and Dubrovnik's international bus station in Gruz, which is in the heart of the port area and just three kilometres from Dubrovnik's main attraction: the UNESCO World Heritage Site Old Town. As the statement pointed out "Due to its high potential and strategic location as the only plot available in the central city area, the project's has attracted interest from several major international and local banks" and will have no problem raising the required finance.

Dubrovnik is rated a must-see 'Marquee Port' with around 600 calls a year bringing 860,000 passengers last year and is ranked 10th in the world and third in the Mediterranean in cruise turnaround numbers. This development is also hand-in-hand with similar projects to raise capacity at Dubrovnik Airport and build a a highway between it and the city, which will raise cruise numbers in the future.

GPH CEO Saygin Narin said "Our main goal is to support sustainability of Dubrovnik by creating a second attraction after the Old Town and reduce congestion, particularly in the high season.. The project will contribute to this as it includes the garage and a cruise sightseeing bus park."

Dubrovnik will be GPH's tenth cruise port/terminal operation in addition to those in Barcelona and Malaga (both Spain); Lisbon (Portugal); Akdeniz-Antalya, Bodrum and Ege Ports-Kusadasi (Turkey); Adria-Bar (Montenegro); Valetta (Malta); and Singapore. It estimates that in 2016, it will handle over 5 million passengers yearly corresponding to about 19% of the Mediterranean cruise market and the top rank in that area.

Victor Stefanescu, BBI's Southern Europe Director said "State and city partners will help us to revitalize this new part of the city giving a strong impulse to for the development of the Pearl of the Adriatic (as Dubrovnik is known and marketed as).

Bilbao awards tender for the new cruise terminal

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations

Published: 25 February 2016 25 February 2016

Alan Lam reporting

The port authority of Bilbao has just awarded the tender for its planned cruise terminal to Excavaciones Viuda de Sainz, S.A., a special purpose consortium formed by Giroa, S.A.U. The €4.6 million terminal has a scheduled eleven-month completion period. Another company, Prosertek, S.L., has been given the contract for planning and the construction of the moving gangway.

The new two-floor (plus a mezzanine) terminal will have a usable space of 3,200 square metres. It has been conceived as a rectangular glass building, covered by a light zinc roof with six skylights to enhance interior brightness.

Central to the design, the port’s focus is on facilities and services for embarking and disembarking passengers. The building has been conceived with passenger and luggage flows in mind. It is is designed in such a way that that it opens towards the vessels, providing a direct passenger access between the terminal and the ship, via a finger gangway.

“The design has been carried out after exhaustive study and analysis of the functional demands of this type of building,” said the port in a statement. “Special attention has been given to the data provided by the major cruise lines in relation to international vessel safety and security norms, together with references from the best terminals in the world. Functionality, durability, easy maintenance and safety have been key in the choice of materials.”

In 2015, its first year of operation, 43 cruise ships called at Bilbao, including Celebrity Eclipse, Britannia, Anthem of the Seas which visited this small cruise port on its maiden voyage. Together they brought a total of 70,541 passengers to the city; about half of them were British, with 17% being German and 13% American.

Early indication suggests that 2016 will be an even better year for Bilbao, with about 55 cruise calls anticipated so far. This is largely thanks to the new cruise pier, which has meant that the port can offer three berths, with no restriction.

In recent years, infrastructure and transport links have improved dramatically in this region. With the new terminal, the port clearly aims to attract more turnaround calls. Indeed it is increasingly attracting the attentions of cruise lines.

Liverpool plans 3,600 passenger capacity terminal, Cunard Line interested

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations

Published: 19 February 2016 19 February 2016

Liverpool City Council is has decided to appoint an advisor to evaluate its plans to build a permanent cruise terminal in the city, while Cunard Line has shown interest in the project, media reports said.

The council has identified a site at Princes Jetty on Princes Parade, just west of the location of the current temporary facility, as a potential location for a terminal that could handle turnarounds of ships up to 3,600 passenger capacity, a report on clickliverpool.com said.

The current temporary facility originally had a limit of 800 passengers, but this has since been expanded to 1,200 for turnarounds. However, it has handled non-turnaround calls by large vessels, such as Queen Mary 2 of Cunard Line, Britannia of P&O Cruises and Royal Princess of Princess Cruises.

Meanwhile, Cunard Line director Angus Struthers was quoted by Travel weekly as saying: "Liverpool will forever be Cunard’s spiritual home, and, as the world witnessed with the Three Queens spectacular last May, the city’s pride in this association, and the level of interest in Cunard across the whole northwest of England, remains strong.”

The company celebrated its 175^th anniversary last year and all its three ships called at the port on a single day. In addition, Queen Mary 2 embarked a number of passengers at Liverpool for Boston and New York to commemorate the line’s first sailing on 4 July 1840 by the paddle steamer Britannia (not to be confused with the present day P&O ship).

"Though Southampton will remain Cunard's homeport, we look forward to working with Liverpool to see how we can develop a great experience for our guests. In particular, we will be looking at how we might be able to incorporate Liverpool into Queen Mary 2's iconic transatlantic crossings," Struthers was quoted as saying.

Unlike many cruise terminals, the one in Liverpool is within walking distance from the city centre. Should the new terminal built on the site now under consideration, this would remain the case with the new facility as well.