News

Canadian Captain Wendy Williams to lead first Virgin Voyages ship

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 12 June 2019 12 June 2019

Virgin Voyages CEO Tom McAlpin, Captain Wendy Williams, and Sir Richard Branson (CNW Group/Virgin Voyages)

Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Voyages President and CEO Tom McAlpin announced the appointment of Captain Wendy Williams as Master of Scarlet Lady. When Captain Williams takes the helm of Scarlet Lady in spring 2020, she will become the first Canadian woman to be captain of a ship for a major cruise brand.

"Captain Wendy's extensive maritime background makes her an excellent choice to lead the Scarlet Lady, but it is her spirit and drive to approach life at sea differently that make her the perfect fit to join the Virgin Voyages family," said Tom McAlpin, president and chief executive officer for Virgin Voyages.

Originally from the coastal city of Sept-Îles, Quebec on the Northeastern coast of Canada, Captain Williams now resides on her hobby farm on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Captain Williams has more than 28 years of experience working on ships at sea. Her extensive background includes more than a decade as a deckhand in commercial fishing off the western coast of Canada as well as working as a ferryboat captain. Although she has spent more than 15 years working on the bridge of mega cruise ships, her role with Virgin Voyages will be her first promotion to Master of a cruise ship.

"I have salt water in my veins and nothing brings me more joy than being at sea," said Captain Wendy Williams. "It's a dream come true to be working with Virgin Voyages, a company that is focused on creating an incredible experience not only for our Sailors but for our Crew as well; while also taking action to minimize our footprint on our oceans."

Just last year, Virgin Voyages announced its Scarlet Squad program, an initiative dedicated to bridging the gender gap in leadership roles across the maritime industry, where women represent less than three per cent of the workforce. The program aims to recruit, support and mentor female shipboard talent, and to grow opportunities for leadership roles in marine, technical and hotel management positions on board.

While Virgin Voyages is still in the early stages of the crew for Scarlet Lady, the company has already recruited Captain Williams as well as nearly a dozen other female officers, including Jill Anderson as hotel director, Christin Wenge as safety officer, Lindsay Kerber as environmental officer, among other incredibly talented female engineers as well as second and third officers.

Virgin Voyages' intention is to create an onboard environment where everyone has an equal opportunity to reach their full potential.

Helsinki Shipyard led by cruise shipbuilding veteran

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 10 June 2019 10 June 2019

Algador Holdings Ltd has signed an acquisition agreement with Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Oy for 100 % of shares of Helsinki Shipyard Oy. The acquisition was previously announced on May 15, 2019, and it was signed and became effective on May 20. Earlier last month, in preparation for the acquisition, Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Oy transferred its shipbuilding operations in Helsinki to Helsinki Shipyard Oy.

”We are proud to become a part of Helsinki shipyard’s story. We see a strong demand for the shipyard’s expertise and look forward to continuing its long traditions under the name its best known for: Helsinki Shipyard Oy," commented Rishat Bagautdinov, co-owner of Algador Holdings.

With the transaction completed, Carl Gustaf Rotkirch (MSc, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering) has been appointed as CEO of Helsinki Shipyard Oy. CEO Rotkirch has an extensive experience in the marine industry and shipbuilding. He has previously worked as Sales VP at Aker Yards and as Project Manager at Kvaerner Masa Yards.

“We are happy to have Rotkirch on board. His deep knowledge of the Finnish shipbuilding industry is an important asset for the shipyard as we move forward with new orders. We are happy to say, that we will publish our first new order within a month, and expect work to start shortly," commented Olerskiy.

Esko Mustamaki, who has previously served as the CEO of Arctech Helsinki Shipyard and FG- Shipping will join Helsinki Shipyard Oy as a member of the board.

“The deal has been discussed for three years and during the negotiations the role of sanctions has been brought up many times. In the beginning of the acquisition preparations I personally met OFAC’s representatives to discuss sanctions and what role they play in shipyard’s operations. The only condition that OFAC had, was that 50 percentage or more must be owned by an entity that is not affected by sanctions. Now as 100 percentage is owned by Algador Holdings, I see that the sanction discussion is closed and we can go full steam ahead with the future orders," commented Mustamaki.

The transfer of the operations of the Helsinki shipyard to Helsinki Shipyard Oy is a significant step for the shipyard's future and for the Finnish shipbuilding industry. The tenders consist of several cruise ships, icebreakers, and LNG tankers. Letters of intent have already been signed for some of the tenders. Helsinki Shipyard Oy looks forward to announcing the first new project in the near future.

MedCruise statement to the Transport & Environment report on cruise ship air emissions

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 08 June 2019 08 June 2019

MedCruise, the Association of the Mediterranean Cruise Ports, strongly refutes the conclusions from the report published recently by Transport & Environment (June 2019) as well as the findings of the publication, which are based on an in-house analysis using highly questionable methodology with estimated data on cruise ships emissions. For instance, the figures arrived at in this report do not reconcile with calculations using actual fuel data and emissions from cruise ships, as well as data independently collected and verified by the ports themselves. As such, it is clear that this study lacks the rigor required by scientifically valid research. It is unfortunate to see such irresponsibility from an organization, which clearly has an agenda to create “noise” without legitimate and transparent science to support its claims.

The MedCruise Association, representing more than 130 ports from the Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea and Near Atlantic as well as 31 Associate Members such as tourist boards, municipalities, cruise terminal operators, tour operators and ship agents, is very concerned about environmental issues and sustainability, and cooperates with the European Commission in different forums and workshops composed by industry experts. For instance, MedCruise is a member of the European Sustainability Shipping Forum and the European Ports Forum -including the Sub-group on Sustainable Ports – as well as cooperating with the European Maritime Safety Agency and the Stakeholders Advisory Group on Maritime Security, among others.

The MedCruise Association has its own Working Group on Sustainability to analyse the investments made by our members on LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) and Shore Side Electricity (SSE) facilities, where experts from the Association gather together to provide recommendations based on facts, such as the 100% LNG powered cruise ships already sailing the Western Mediterranean, which means no Sulphur neither PM emissions in cruise ports. Moreover, MedCruise and its members are very committed with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) new regulations on Sulphur emissions, which will enter in force on January 1st, 2020, and the reduction of the total annual greenhouse gases emissions from shipping by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008.

The cruise industry is leading the environmental race among the maritime transport sector, even though representing only the 2% of the emissions of the total shipping industry, and investing a large amount of resources on greener cruise ships, equipped with cutting edge technology and Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (EGCS) to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Sulphur and particulate matters. In fact, cruise ships meet and more often exceed current emissions requirements through the use of AAQS and new LNG vessels. In addition, the cruise industry has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions rate by 40% by 2030, in line with IMO aspirations and is actively working to develop solutions for further improving its emissions profile.

MedCruise President, Airam Diaz Pastor, highlighted “the great work being carried out by our members in promoting the sustainable growth of cruise activities and working towards a greener industry cannot be called into doubt by non-reviewed reports, plenty of bias and assumptions.”

In conclusion, the Association fully supports and welcomes any initiative and recommendation on sustainability, such as the creation of new ECA zones, SSE tax exemptions and actions towards a zero-emission industry, as long as the data and methodology used to reach the conclusions are accepted by the scientific community. However, MedCruise is concerned about the methodology and results of the report published by Transport & Environment without academic review and based on assumptions instead of facts.