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MSC Cruises launches range of environmentally certified tours

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 28 January 2020 28 January 2020

MSC Cruises, the Geneva based cruise shipping company, said it has unveiled a series of carefully selected shore excursions specifically designed to help protect and preserve Earth’s natural beauty but also set specific objectives for local tour operator partners to become internationally certified under the Global Sustainable Tourism Council certification program.

“These unique excursions are an integral part of MSC Cruises’ mission to offer guests an environmentally conscious holiday. The new Protectours program offers MSC Cruises’ guests a chance to discover destinations like never before, while making a positive contribution to the planet through activities aimed to help protect and preserve through a growing list of 25+ tours,’ the company said in a statement.

“Protectours gives guests the chance to enjoy original insights into the natural world while at the same time preserving its beauty and helping to ensure a greener future, from the ultimate forest hike with rescued dogs in Jamaica in the Caribbean to meeting urban honey bees in Corfu or helping to keep Croatia’s beautiful bays and beaches clean during a snorkeling experience,” the company said.

MSC Cruises’ also stated that it became the first global cruise line to become carbon neutral across marine operations at the start of the year. “This commitment to the environment naturally extends to onshore activities too with Protectours. These tours serve two purposes: firstly, they offer an opportunity for MSC Cruises to empower their tour partners to diversify their offering to include more sustainable activities and secondly influencing them to operate their business in a sustainable manner and become engaged in a Global Sustainable Tourism Council certification program by the end of 2020,” the company said.

DIV Group agrees to buy Kleven Verft from Hurtigruten

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 22 January 2020 22 January 2020

The Croatia based DIV Group has signed an agreement to buy the Norwegian shipbuilder Kleven Verft from Hurtigruten, the Norwegian coastal express and expedition cruise company, Kleven Verft said in a statement.

Hurtigruten had to acquire the shipbuilder in order to secure the completion of Fritdjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen, two advanced expedition cruise ships of about 21,000 gross tons each.

DIV Group is one of the largest industrial groups in Croatia and it owns e.g. the Brodosplit shipyard.

Astoria to leave CMV fleet after this season

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 22 January 2020 22 January 2020

Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), the UK based destination focused cruise line, said it would not renew the charter for the 16,844 gross ton Astoria after this season.

“With two new larger ships joining the CMV fleet in 2021, we have taken the difficult decision not to renew the charter contract for Astoria. Sadly, Astoria will be leaving the CMV fleet and 2020 will be her Farewell Season,”the company said in a statement.

The ship joined the CMV fleet in 2015 and in the following year it commenced a summer charter to French tour operator Rivages du Monde with CMV operating spring and autumn sailings from the UK, which has continued for five years.

Chris Coates, Group Commercial Director said in the statenment: “Although we will be sad to say farewell to Astoria, especially as she has built up a strong and loyal following, we are excited at the prospect of Pacific Dawn (to be renamed) joining the fleet in 2021 and another traditional-style ship for the British cruise market.”

Astoria was built as Stockholm for the now defunct Swedish America Line in 1948 and eight years later collided with the Italian liner Andrea Doria that sank. A total of 52 persons died in the accident.

Renamed Italia Prima in 1994, the ship was totally rebuilt and received e.g. new engines. The new interiors were designed by Studio de Jorio, the Italian architects who have since gained reputation for extensive work for MSC Cruises.

Fincantieri joins experimental fusion reactor project

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 20 January 2020 20 January 2020

Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilder that is the world’s largest builder of cruise ships, said it has been awarded an order, worth almost €100 million, for a number of high-profile equipment furniture and installations as part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a project aimed at building an experimental hydrogen fusion reactor, first of this kind, and acknowledged as one of the most ambitious initiatives in the world in the renewable energies field, the company said in a statement.

Fusion is different technology to what is used in e.g. power stations and nuclear powered military vessels. A ship called Savannah that was built in the US in 1962 remains the only passenger carrying nuclear powered vessel ever built. It is no longer in service.

Fincantieri said a temporary consortium has been established for the execution of the activities. It includes Fincantieri itself as the main contractor, its subsidiary Fincantieri SI, active in the field of plant design and industrial electrical, electronic and electromechanical components, Delta-ti Impianti, specialized in mechanical plant engineering, and Comes, specialized in electrical plant engineering.

ITER Organization is the supranational body, headquartered in France, participated and funded by the European Union, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States of America. The organization runs the ITER project, with construction currently underway in Cadarache in the South of France. The project will demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of hydrogen fusion, and will allow to gain all the necessary knowledge for the construction of a fusion reactor prototype. The product will be a first large-scale source of clean and unlimited energy through fusion reaction – also given increasing energy demand – by using cutting-edge technologies specially developed by the countries taking part in the program.

Alongside renewable energy resources, fusion could considerably help fighting against climate change. Besides its potential inexhaustibility, one of the fusion’s benefits, in fact, lies in the limited production of residual waste, envisaging a power source not requiring CO2 emissions, one of the greenhouse gasses responsible for global warming. Nuclear fusion is considered as highly efficient and clean because water is its starting source without waste production within the process. Furthermore, it represents a real scientific and engineering challenge, involving horizontally fields like superconductivity, cryogenics and high vacuum.

The CEO of Fincantieri, Giuseppe Bono, said: “This order has an extraordinary international importance, and testifies to the reputation that we have been able to earn in every field. Being involved in such a project, in fact, confirms the goodness of our strategies, and I refer in particular to those for diversification and constant investment in innovation and business sustainability. Now we will actively participate in the development of a completely different technology from the one used in the existing power plants and above all cleaner: an extremely ambitious goal that also reaffirms our capacity as integrator”.

Boudicca passengers and crew plus Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines HQ staff raise £5,000 for Australia relief

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 16 January 2020 16 January 2020

Guests, staff and crew aboard Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Boudicca and at the company’s head office in Ipswich, have raised £5,000 to help fund relief efforts in Kangaroo Island following on from devastating bush fires across much of the country, the UK based destinational cruise line said in a statement.

The 880 passenger capacity Boudicca is currently part-way through the 168-night Grand Voyage, and in recent weeks has called into Australia on a number of occasions, including to Kangaroo Island just days before the devastating fires struck.

Guests and crew united in a joint mission to raise funds to support the relief effort and organised a fundraising event on deck with a number of stalls and games, including a ring toss, a ‘name the koala’ competition and a live performance by the Boudicca Orchestra. In addition, a silent auction was held offering guests the chance to bid for a navigational chart of Australia, signed by the Senior Bridge Officers, with the whole event raising over £3,500.

The fundraising efforts continued at the company’s head office yesterday (9 January) where employees from Fred. Olsen Ltd and Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines held a dress down day, bake sale and a raffle, taking the total raised to £5,000.

Peter Deer, Managing Director at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said: “It has not been possible to watch the news in recent weeks without seeing the devastating fires that have torn across Australia, and most recently Kangaroo Island. This country has formed an integral part of Boudicca’s Grand Voyage, and was a highlight to so many of our guests."