More News

Meyer Turku concludes talks regarding staff reductions

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 10 November 2020 10 November 2020

Meyer Turku, the Finnish cruise ship builder, said it has closed the negotiations concerning permanent lay-offs, resulting in a much lower number than at first planned.

The company will permanently lay off 84 people from outfitting and design functions. The number includes nine blue-collar and 75 white-collar workers. “Together with the lay-off numbers announced in August, Meyer Turku will lay off 250 people. Part of the reduction of the workforce is done through retirement and other personnel arrangements. The original estimation at the start of the YT negotiations in April was 450 people,” the company said in a statement.

YT refers to the Finnish legislation that requires talks to be held between the employer and staff in case e.g. the personnel would have to be reduced.

“Unfortunately we have to take some painful steps to adjust to the actual market situation that obviously has changed dramatically during this year. We are continuously working on securing the future of the yard on a long term basis”, CEO Tim Meyer said. The people concerned will be offered personal guidance, support and specialized training to ease the transition.

In August, Meyer Turku concluded an agreement with its customers to stretch the fixed order book to reach until 2026. This is an important step to stabilise the entire Finnish cruise ship building cluster until the market situation for new orders recovers again.

Cruise shares leap on Covid-19 vaccine news

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 09 November 2020 09 November 2020

Shares in listed cruise shipping companies soared on bullish equity markets after news had emerged that Pfizer, the US pharmaceutical giant, had made significant progress in its efforts to develop a vaccine against the Covid-19 virus.

Carnival Corporation, the US listed and Panama domiciled holding company in the Carnival group, traded some 31% up since the opening, at $18.12 around 1000 AM local time.

Carnival Plc, the group’s UK listed and domiciled holding company, had risen 34% to trade at just under £11.20. Shares are quoted in pence rather than pounds on the London market, hence the price of 1,198 /1,200 in the image above.

Royal Caribbean Group was quoted at $74.46 in New York, up 27% and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings at $20.70, up about 22% since the opening of the market today.

MSC Cruises opens sales for 2023 world cruise

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 09 November 2020 09 November 2020

MSC Cruises, the Geneva based cruise shipping company, said it has opened sales for the MSC World Cruise 2023 featuring 53 stunning destinations in 33 countries across six continents with a focus on aspirational locations in Asia. The 119-day voyage on board MSC Poesia will commence on 5 January 2023 from Genoa in Italy.

Saga Cruises delays resumption of operations

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 November 2020 04 November 2020

Saga Cruises, the UK based and focused luxury segment operator, has reportedly delayed the resumption of the operations of its two ships.

Spirit of Discovery is planned to resume cruising in April instead of March and its sister ship, Spirit of Adventure that was delivered last week from the Meyer Werft in Germany in is now scheduled to sail on its maiden voyage on 4 may instead of February, Travel Weekly reports on its website.

“We have sadly seen the predicted restrictions on day-to-day life increasing. This has led us to further review our planned dates for a return to service, as the seasonal impact of Covid-19 would indicate that we are unlikely to be able to cruise in February on Spirit of Adventure, or March on Spirit of Discovery,” the publication quoted Managing Director Nigel Blanks as saying..

“I would therefore like to confirm that, following careful consideration, we have taken the very difficult decision to postpone our return to service for Spirit of Discovery until April 2021 and Spirit of Adventure’s inaugural cruise has also been rescheduled and she will now sail for the first time on May 4, 2021,” Travel weekly said, citing a message Blanks had sent to customers of the Folkestone, Kent based cruise line.

Decarbonisation debate dominates Posidonia Web Forums Week

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 03 November 2020 03 November 2020

The issue of decarbonisation was hotly debated between international maritime industry stakeholders during the Posidonia Web Forums Week held over a plethora of digital platforms from 21 October το 3 November 2020, the organisers of the event said in a statement.

Leading maritime media and policy organisations, such as Tradewinds, Lloyd’s List, Seatrade, Capital Link, Newsfront/Naftiliaki and Maritime London, as well as traditional Posidonia exhibitors and educational organisations, such as ABS, Marine Traffic, Isalos.net and BCA College, participated in this project.

And it was shipping business as usual, albeit on a new format, as the world of shipping converged online in their thousands to fill the physical void left by the cancelation of the 2020 edition of the biennial shipping exhibition due to the pandemic.

Registrations exceeded expectations and attendance and active participation was high at all times during the web events..

A total of 16 online events were held during the Posidonia Web Forums Week, which included the Annual European Shipping Seminar of the virtual event’s exclusive sponsor S&P Global Platts.

Charlotte Bucchioni, Associate Editor EMEA, S&P Global Platts, asserted that the industry is standing still in anticipation of the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) clarifications on decarbonisation compliance issues.She said: “We have to wait till 2023 to get a clearer picture from IMO with regards to what the shipping industry would have to do to comply. This has caused negative feedback from the industry which has an order book that is the lowest we have seen in ten years due to a combination of weaker crude demand due to carbon reduction targets and uncertainty over fuel regulations.”