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Cruise industry forms global trade association

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 17 December 2012 17 December 2012

Nine cruise industry associations today announced they have agreed to operate under a common organisation with a unified structure to serve as the voice and advocacy leader of the global cruise industry.

The Passenger Shipping Association (PSA) and the Association of Cruise Experts (ACE) are among the nine cruise associations and will be known as CLIA UK, retaining their existing office in London. The other associations are Cruise Lines International Association in America, European Cruise Council, Asia Cruise Association, France’s AFCC, Brazil’s ABREMAR, Northwest and Canada Cruise Association, Alaska Cruise Association and International Cruise Council Australasia.

The new association was created to provide increased benefits and a globally unified voice for cruise lines, travel agents and business partners – all of whom contribute to an industry that creates nearly $100 billion in economic impact and more than 753,000 jobs worldwide.  For cruise lines, the new association offers a one-stop global resource on technical and regulatory issues and unified global communication and event coordination, all of which better utilise cruise lines’ investment in association membership.

For travel agents, the new association offers more robust partnership programmes and networking on a broader scale.  For the PSA’s associate members, it provides greater opportunities for customer and business partner development.
CLIA will be governed by a Global Executive Committee, chaired by Howard Frank, Vice Chairman, Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Executive Committee of Carnival Corporation & plc.  Christine Duffy, President and CEO of Cruise Lines International Association, will serve as the President and CEO of the new association, leading a team with responsibilities for international technical and regulatory issues, research, communications, industry relations and public affairs.

"We are now truly one industry with one voice," said Howard Frank. "Given the tremendous growth and continuing globalization of the cruise industry, this evolution addresses the need to speak and act globally with a unified voice while recognizing the importance of local relationships.  The new association will play a vital role in proactively shaping the policy and regulatory environments on a global level and promoting cruising with various constituencies through more effective coordination, communication and stakeholder engagement.”

PSA Director Bill Gibbons said “We have seen tremendous growth and success in the cruise industry since the PSA was formed in 1958 with the objective of promoting passenger travel by sea.  Cruising now touches every continent and having  one unified global organisation will be the natural next step in our development to ensure the industry is represented in a cohesive manner, as it continues to grow both in the UK and worldwide. We shall further develop our award winning travel agent training programme under CLIA UK and continue with our cruise consumer promotional activities.”

He continued: "Our ferry members are in discussion with the Chamber of Shipping with whom we have worked very closely over the last few years. The Chamber already has many ferry companies as members and offers depth and a strong track record on policy, technical and regulatory issues.  Ferry companies are also keen to continue the successful proactive work which has been undertaken by the PSA to raise the profile of ferry travel through the Discover Ferries campaign."

PSA Chairman, and Passenger Services Director for P&O Ferries, Simon Johnson, added: "This is clearly the right move for our cruise line members as the industry becomes truly global and I’m delighted that our ferry members look set to have a new home within the Chamber of Shipping where their interests will be safeguarded."
 
Christine Duffy, who will serve as President and CEO of the new association said: "There are immediate and longer term benefits from the new association that are extensive and wide ranging. It enables us to better leverage our members’ and partners’ investment in association membership while strengthening the industry’s leadership globally on issues such as safety, security, the environment, sustainability and health.  It also allows us to consolidate industry research and to leverage promotional events and marketing communication to facilitate greater consumer interest in cruising."

The CLIA global organisation will represent the cruise industry at the International Maritime Organisation based in London, the International Labour Organisation in Geneva and with other international maritime and shipping organisations around the world.  They will focus on global strategy, international industry issues and strategic communications.  Local and regional matters will continue to be managed by the national and regional associations in North America, Europe, and Australasia. The new association’s employees will be located across the globe.  Regional and country offices along with new staff appointments will be the subject of a future announcement.

Oasis decision on Tuesday – can Finland save its shipbuilding industry?

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 17 December 2012 17 December 2012

Finland’s Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen was tight-lipped about possible government financial help for STX shipyard in Turku to help to win the order for a new ship from Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class. The cruise line has requested from the Finnish government a loan of 50 million euros (to cover the cost of construction during the building process), which would help it secure an order for a cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd has said that it would like to order a new Oasis-class vessel from Turku STX Shipyard. In return, STX has asked the Finnish government to lend it the 50 million euros it needs to be able to complete the cruise ship. Ultimately, each ship in the class bears a price tag of 970 million euros, according to Yle. In shipbuilding, the customer, which in this case is Royal Caribbean, typically doesn’t ante up for construction costs until the ship is actually delivered.

Katainen, as reported by Yle, has been coming under considerable pressure to respond to the request and in fact Finland’s shipbuilding industry recently lost a major order from RCCL to the German Meyer Werft as a result.  The Finnish Maritime Industry earlier sent the Prime Minister a confidential letter saying the whole sector was at risk, if the order cannot be secured. Later on Sunday, the powerfull Finnish Metalworks’ Union urged a favorable decision on the matter.

Being quizzed on the matter on Yle’s Prime Minister’s radio interview programme, Katainen criticized the competition in shipbuilding, saying that normal market economy rules had long been distorted here, Yle reports.

“South Korea and European countries, among others, support big projects in different ways. It’s not so much the different players in the field that are competing; rather, it’s states competing with each other. What’s at issue is what kinds of risks each state is willing to take with tax payers’ money,” Katainen said.

According to the Prime Minister, Finland needs to formulate a consistent, long-term stance on government financial support, which should take into account the interests of both tax payers and business.

"We cannot think that the weaknesses of some company be compensated with tax payers’ money. Also, any support should not distort competition or put others into difficult situations," the Prime Minister explained in Yle.    

Katainen would not directly comment on possible financial support to help STX get the Royal Caribbean order, as this involved trade secrets.

The Government is working to secure the contract to Finland with similar measures as have been used with earlier ventures, Katainen revealed, adding that there has been dialogue with sector representatives. According to the Prime Minister, the government has not experienced intimidation or threats relating to the matter.

"We’ve told the shipyard what’s possible and what’s not," Katainen said.

The government is expected to make its decision on Tuesday.

Sembawang and Royal Caribbean in long term refit and maintenance contract

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 11 December 2012 11 December 2012

Sembcorp Marine’s wholly-owned subsidiary Sembawang Shipyard has been awarded the Favoured Customer Contract (FCC) from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) to provide ship-repair, revitalisation, upgrading and related marine services for its fleet of 41 cruise ships. 

"This milestone long-term maintenance and refit contract with Royal Caribbean will further boost Singapore’s status as a major Asian cruise hub and reinforce Sembawang Shipyard’s reputation as one of the world’s leading shipyards in the highly specialised segment of cruise ships repair, refurbishment and conversion,” Sembawang said in a statement.

The contract commits the repairs, revitalisation and upgrading of RCCL’s fleet of passenger ships cruising in the Singapore region to Sembawang Shipyard. It also commits to joint planning, information and experience sharing, thus leveraging complementary resources to achieve sustainable targets in the areas of HSE (Health, Safety and Environment), logistics management, quality, cost-efficiency and on- schedule deliveries, which are key performance indicators for high quality cruise vessels maintenance.

 

Deilmann raises €50 million in five year note issue

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 07 December 2012 07 December 2012

MS “Deutschland“ Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, the shipowning entity in the German cruise shipping group Peter Deilmann Reederei, has raised €50 million through an issue of five year notes.

The notes carry a coupon of 6.875% and all the notes were sold well in advance of the closing date of the offer that had been scheduled to be 14 December. The company did not say at what price it sold the notes.

The proceeds would be used to refinance existing debt and to general corporate purposes. The notes will be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the company said.