CLIA announces development of Global Ports Committee

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 08 February 2014 08 February 2014

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has announced the establishment of a Global Ports Committee as well as new regional committees in the Americas, Australasia and Asia in addition to the regional committee already operating in Europe. CLIA is now focusing more on engaging directly with port communities around the world both on operational and strategic issues. Port partners will now have increased opportunities to engage with CLIA member lines through this newly established Committee structure.

The Global Ports Committee, chaired by Giora Israel of Carnival Corporation includes Tom Spina of Norwegian Cruise Line, Gianluca Suprani of MSC Cruises, and John Tercek of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. This committee will serve as a forum where cruise lines and ports from around the world can come together to discuss port-related issues of interest and will help to more fully integrate port development and operations within the larger cruise industry.

"I am honored to serve as chair of the Global Ports Committee, which will play an integral role in strengthening the relationships between cruise lines and port communities," said Israel. "Both cruise lines and destinations can benefit significantly by providing excellent service to passengers who embark and disembark cruise ships — and establishing this committee together with my colleagues from the other cruise companies will further our mutual goals of maximizing the positive impact of cruise tourism."

As part of its globalization, CLIA redesigned its Executive Partner program, which is comprised of 250 port authorities, destinations and maritime and industry suppliers who are important partners to the cruise lines and  play a major role in the successful operation of cruising. As part of this effort, CLIA today also announced that it has named Bo Larsen to the position of Director of Port Engagement and Business Development. In this role, Bo will initially have responsibility as the staff liaison to the regional ports committee in Europe and Executive Partner business development for Northern Europe. Bo will support Didier Scaillet, CLIA Global Vice President of Business Development, who serves as the staff liaison to the Global Ports Committee and leads CLIA’s global business development activities.

"Bo’s strong background in cruise port development, international sales and marketing expertise, strong relationships with port representatives, and success growing the cruise industry’s presence in Copenhagen and the Baltic region make him an ideal fit to represent CLIA in this important new position," said Pierfrancesco Vago, Chairman of CLIA Europe and Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises.

Prior to joining CLIA, Larsen served as director of the Cruise Copenhagen Network and Cruise Baltic, where he oversaw the significant growth of the cruise industry in the region and had responsibility for sales, marketing, business development and branding. Larsen joins CLIA on March 1, 2014.

Cruise Business Commentary: Allure's European season makes sense - to a point

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 05 February 2014 05 February 2014

Royal Caribbean International this morning said it would base its 226,000 gross ton Allure of the Seas in Barcelona for a series of seven night cruises through the summer of 2015. This follows a "mini season" by its sister ship, Oasis of the Seas, later this year.

The move to base Allure of the Seas in Barcelona is a sensible move. Both Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), the parent company of Royal Caribbean International, and its competitor Carnival Corp & plc group, have stated that the demand for European itineraries is firming after a fall in the aftermath of the financial crisis and subsequent cuts in capacity in Europe.

Royal Caribbean's competitors are bringing new capacity online in 2015: AIDAPrima of Carnival's German unit AIDA Cruises and Britannia of its UK based P&O Cruises will both enter service in the spring of 2015.

The RCCL group is responding by raising the stakes: 2015 will see the entry into service of Mein Schiff 4, the second of two 99,300 gross ton newbuldings of TUI Cruises, in which RCCL has a 50% stake. In the UK, the new 167,800 Anthem of the Seas is due to replace the 158,400 gross ton Independence of the Seas. In the Mediterranean, Norwegian Cruise Line will keep the 155,800 gross ton Norwegian Epic year round in Barcelona from the summer of 2015.

Furthermore, the summer is peak season in Europe, it is not in the Caribbean.

By brining the Allure of the Seas to Europe, Royal Caribbean International will make sure that it has the assets in place to claim its place in the sun at a time when the European cruise market is due to receive lots of new capacity, which the lines hope will bring them lots of attention in the media and lots of business.

And it is here that the caveat lies: the move to bring Allure of the Seas makes sense to the company, but it may not be equally positive to the overall market. The question is whether the European market will be able to absorb all that new supply or not. With only the British and German economies firing on all cylinders, the local demand may not keep up with the increase. The interest of Americans to cruise in Europe may, therefore, play a crucial role in what the outcome will be.