Costa Classica News

Germany's Port of Kiel says goodbye to the  Italian cruise shipping company Costa Crociere cruise vessel Costa Pacifica for this year’s season on Sunday (September 02).To mark the over 40 years of partnership between the shipping company, the city and the port, Hans-Werner Tovar, City President, Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director Port of Kiel, Captain Paolo Viscafè and Dr Jörg Rudolph, General Manager Costa Germany, unveiled a bronze plate on Kiel’s Walk of Cruise Ships at the Ostseekai Terminal.City President Tovar: “With this plate on the Walk of Cruise Ships, we commemorate the particular importance of Costa Crociere for Kiel as a cruise location. For more than 40 years the ships of Costa have been calling at our port.

Costa Cruises has resumed its Japan itineraries. On August 26th, 2011 Costa Classica will be leaving Shanghai for a 4-day cruise calling at Fukuoka (Japan), Cheju (South Korea) before returning to Shanghai. This decision demonstrates Costa’s confidence in Japan’s tourism market and its support to the revitalization of the local tourism industry. Costa Classica cruises to Japan are very much appreciated especially by Costa Chinese Guests. As the first international cruise company to enter the Chinese market, Costa Cruises has been operating cruise itineraries from China to Japan for more  than five years. From August to October this year Costa Classica, home-ported in Shanghai, will operate a total of 12 cruises to Japan and South Korea.

Today marks the beginning of Kiel’s tenth season as a base port for the cruise ships of the Costa Crociere Shipping Company. It comes as “Costa Pacifica” arrives in Kiel to become the biggest cruise ship ever to berth in the port. Arriving from Harwich, the Costa flagship was met early this morning by the tug “Bülk” and escorted with a fountain display to Kiel’s Ostseekai Cruise Terminal where her captain and crew were officially welcomed by the President of the Schleswig-Holstein state capital, Cathy Kietzer.

Costa Cruises set to return to Trieste in 2012 with 28 calls and an estimated 65,000 passenger movements. Trieste – April 8, 2011 – Trieste will be hosting the naming ceremony on July 2 for the Costa Favolosa, the new flagship of Costa Cruises, which is the largest Italian travel group, Europe’s no.1 cruise company and also the only cruise operator whose fleet flies the Italian flag. The Costa Favolosa, weighing in at 114,500 gross tonnage and with accommodation for up to 3,800 total Guests…

Costa Crociere continues to make investments to keep its fleet operating at the highest quality standards. Between November and December 2007 no less than 4 ships in the Italian company’s fleet, Europe’s biggest and most modern, were placed in dry-dock to carry out technical maintenance and restyling operations worth a total of 15 million euros. The works were carried out in the dry-docks of the ports of Genoa and Palermo: the Costa Victoria (from 13 to 23 November) was the guest of the Mariotti shipyards in Genoa; the Costa Marina (from 13 to 25 November) was placed in dry-dock no. 5 of the port of Genoa; the Costa Concordia (from 4 to 14 December) and the Costa Classica (from 20 November to 1 December) were overhauled in the Fincantieri dry-docks of Palermo.

Encouraged by the positive trend of its cruises in Asia, Costa Cruises will increase its presence by positioning a second cruise ship in the region, beginning in March 2009. Costa Cruises was the first international company to schedule regular cruises in China and Asia. Its operations began on July 2, 2006 with the Costa Allegra, which flies the Italian flag. A year and a half later, following the success of the product marketed both in China and internationally, Costa has decided to strengthen its presence in Asia from March 2009 onward with the deployment of a second ship – the 53,000 gross tonnage Costa Classica. With accommodations for 1…

Manuel Grimaldi confided to some close friends last December that not only had he decided to set up a new line from Italy to Spain but also to purchase Superfast 1 now called Eurostar Roma for about $49.3 million. The specification of the vessel will mean a greater presence in Mediterranean RoRo and in fact there are now three of this type of vessel under the name of Grimaldi Ferry Prestige. The new purchase Eurostar Roma (pictured opposite page) was presented by the Naples shipping group in Rome on January 23, 2004. The vessel is 24,000 tons, 570.8 ft. (174 m) long, with a beam of 78.7 ft. (24 m) and a cruising speed of 27 knots. Eurostar Rome can carry 1,400 passengers with 100 cars as well as 110 trailers.

Wärtsilä NSD has received a contract for additional diesel engines from Italian cruise ship owner Costa Crociere to outfit its ship Costa Classica with six more Sulzer diesel engines for increased propulsion power and shipboard electrical supplies. Cammell Laird will perform the modification of the 1991-built Costa Classica this fall for a March 2001 completion. The vessel will be extended by 147 ft. (44.8 m) to 871 ft. (265.4 m) overall, in addition to a new full-length superstructure deck. Passenger occupancy will expand from 1,308 to 2,020 persons, with double occupancy and the gross tonnage will go from 52,950 to 78,000. The vessel's propulsion plant is being extended for an increased service speed of 21 knots in spite of increased ship's length.

Costa Crociere S.p.A., a unit of Carnival Corp. has signed a letter of intent with Italian shipyard Fincantieri Cantieri Navali S.p.A. for the construction of two 105,000-ton vessels for delivery in late 2003 and late 2004. The 2,720-passenger ships, which will be built at Fincantieri's Sestri shipyard in Genoa, will cost approximately $400 million each. This latest agreement renews the association between Costa and Fincantieri, which began with the construction of the Costa Classica and Costa Romantica in 1992 and 1993, respectively.

A British shipbuilding union sought urgent talks on Friday with the UK trade secretary to save 700 jobs threatened by the likely loss of a contract at Merseyside shipbuilders Cammell Laird Holdings Plc, Reuters reported. The Italian cruise liner Costa Classica, owned by the Costa Crociere unit of U.S. group Carnival Corp, had been due to arrive for refitting at the docks in northwest England but was now heading back for Genoa. "It is bad news for the Merseyside yard...but we are not purely a shipbuilding company," a Cammell Laird spokesman said. Cammell Laird's shares and bonds sank on the news the company faced potentially lengthy litigation over the contract. The stock closed down 39 percent on Nov. 24.

Cammell Laird Holdings Plc is trying to hammer out a new agreement this week to save a nearly $76 million (51 million pound) cruise liner contract and protect hundreds of jobs, the Daily Telegraph reported. Cammell was also looking for a breakthrough later this week on talks about bank financing for a 350 million pound order for two cruise liners from Luxus (U.K.), a new start-up company, the paper said. It said senior executives headed by Chief Executive John Stafford were studying fresh proposals on the cruise liner contract. They were put forward by Costa Crociere, the Italian cruise line owned by U.S. Carnival Corp., after two and a half days of talks in Genoa last week, the paper said.

The finale of a long-standing saga is not good news for Britain’s Cammell Laird, which announced that it lost a crucial $74.7 million contract on Wednesday, which is likely to put hundreds of jobs at risk. The company is considering its legal options. The shipbuilder and repairer said the owner of cruise ship Costa Classica, Costa Crociere of Italy -- a unit of U.S. group Carnival Corp -- had terminated a contract for the ship's conversion. Bonds of Cammell Laird tumbled 20 points after the announcement. Cammell Laird said the letter it had received terminating the contract was unclear and that it was taking legal advice to ascertain what impact it had, if any, on the existing arbitration process initiated in November 2000.

British shipmaker and repairer Cammell Laird has been struck a heavy blow by the termination of a key cruise ship contract, which it said on Monday would have a "significant impact" on year results. Since the dispute which has led to this result, with Costa Crociere regarding a high-value cruise ship conversion, began in November, Cammell Laird’s shares have fallen dramatically from a year high of 147 pence to the current level of 13 ¾ pence. Cammell Laird posted a first-half pre-tax loss of 3.5 million pounds ($5.11 million) on turnover of 52.7 million -- down from 61.7 million -- and said it had been a difficult time for the company, primarily due to the Costa Classica dispute.

Moody's downgraded to Caa2 from B2 the rating for the Euro 125 million senior notes of Cammell Laird Holdings plc following the announcement of its key customer Costa Crociere to terminate a high value contract with CLH to convert the cruise ship Costa Classica. CLH has rejected Costa's right to terminate the contract and has stated that it will take all necessary action to protect its commercial position. At the time of the original rating assignment, the Costa contract was already in an advanced stage and considered to be a reference contract for the flow of future orders. Cash flows from those future orders were expected to provide the means for servicing the company's debt.

Shares in Cammell Laird fell nearly nine percent on Thursday after news the British shipbuilder's $500 million contract with U.S. firm Luxus was at risk, threatening a second blow to the yard in as many months. Since it began a dispute with Costa Classica -- an Italian unit of U.S group Carnival Corp. -- last Autumn over a key cruise ship contract, which was subsequently terminated, its shares have fallen dramatically from a year high of 147p. While the Costa Classica dispute raged on -- leading to 450 job losses and an expected impact on year results -- the company was hopeful that the Luxus contract would provide bedrock work throughout the group for the next three years.

Cammell Laird's $500 million contract with U.S. firm Luxus could fail unless loan guarantees are received from the British government by the end of February. "It's urgent. I'd like to think it (loan guarantee approval) was certainly this month," Juan Kelly said. Kelly said he had written to British Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers to urge the speedy approval of loan guarantees for Luxus, which has ordered two luxury liners from Cammell Laird. Without the guarantees, Luxus, which is a start-up company, may not get bank loans to fund the orders, sources at Cammell Laird said recently. The guarantees could cover some 60 percent of the value of the contract.

The British government's attempts to save 1,500 jobs at struggling shipbuilder Cammell Laird were apparently in grave danger on Wednesday after the chairman of a cruise firm offering Cammell a lifeline contract reportedly said the deal looked dead. "We have been offered impossible terms. I do not want to be the one to bring bad news but you cannot keep pushing water up a hill indefinitely," Luxus chairman Jim Davis reportedly said. It was also reported that the shipbuilder is undergoing further difficulties, specifically that the government was now insisting on a $150 million performance bond to protect itself should the investment fail. With assets of only $110 million, Cammell would most likely not be able to secure banking support for such a bond.

Cammell Laird gave a cautious response to an improved government aid package to help it win a $500 million pound contract to build two cruise ships. The U.K. Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) said late on Monday it would share an extra $100 million risk with the company to underwrite the risk of the contract falling through. The government had previously offered $300 million in guaranteed loans to cover the contract. A spokesman for Cammell Laird said the next step was for cruise company Luxus to decide on whether or not to accept the government's package, which a DTI spokeswoman described as the highest level of risk-sharing the British government had ever undertaken under its shipbuilding credit guarantee scheme.

Standard & Poor's today lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Cammell Laird Holdings PLC (Cammell Laird) to 'D' from double-'C' and single-'C', respectively. At the same time, the ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on Nov. 30, 2000. These actions follow the appointment of receivers to intermediate holding company Cammell Laird Group PLC, and the Group's failure today to make the first coupon payment of EUR7.5 million ($6.7 million) on its EUR125 million 10-year bond. Cammell Laird Group acts as the guarantor of Cammell Laird's senior unsecured notes. Cammell Laird is a small U.K. shipbuilder that generated revenues totaling GBP129 million ($185 million) in the year to Oct. 31, 2000.

Work is proceeding apace at Fincantieri's Genoa Sestri Ponente shipyard on the construction of Costa Crociere's new flagship Costa Concordia, which will be Italy's largest cruise ship when she enters into service in July 2006. The latest news was announced with the assemblage on board of a block of the ship - 17 metres long by 43 metres wide by 8.5 metres high and weighing in at 190 tonnes – that included the whole bridge. Given the substantial size of the relevant building block the operation took about 2 hours. The bridge was lifted off the ground to a height of around 30 metres by a powerful crane, which then positioned it in the forebody of the vessel.

The Costa Classica made its debut in the Port of Dubai this past weekend. Costa Crociere is the first international cruise company to homeport from Dubai, offering travelers uniquely rich itineraries throughout the Gulf region. The new cruises from Dubai will be offered throughout the 2006/2007 winter season, with additional capacity offered in the 2007-2008 season.

Starting from December 2006 the Italian Costa Crociere SpA, which operates the brands AIDA Cruises and Costa Crociere, will be offering cruises with departures from Dubai (United Arab Emirates). The official announcement was made during a series of official meetings, set to take place in Dubai on February 1 and 2, 2006, between a delegation from Costa Crociere – headed by Costa Crociere SpA Chairman & CEO Pier Luigi Foschi, Costa Crociere President Gianni Onorato, and AIDA Cruises SVP Operations Michael Ungerer – and political and administrative leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah, Deputy Chairman of DP World, and Khalid bin Sulayem, Director General of the DTCM (Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing).