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Cunard Line News

14 Feb 2020

Cruise Industry Seeks to Limit Coronavirus Risks

Norwegian Spirit (Photo: Norwegian Cruise Lines)

The plight of the cruise ship off Japan with more than 200 coronavirus infections and the shunning of another by five ports despite no known cases has led to a sharp change in tack for an industry in shock: avoid Asia.To that end, many cruises in the region are being cancelled while others currently sailing are being re-routed, skipping originally scheduled stops in China, Hong Kong and Singapore.Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd on Thursday canceled 18 cruises in Southeast Asia after calling off eight trips to China last week.

15 May 2019

ChartCo's Reg4ships Service for Carnival Fleet

Photo: Chartco

ChartCo will now be supplying the entire Carnival Cruise Line fleet with its benchmark regulation management solution, Regs4ships.Prior to signing the new contract with Carnival Cruise Line, ChartCo supplied 75% of the fleet of its parent company Carnival Corporation, including Princess Cruises, Holland America, P&O Cruises, Costa, Aida, Cunard Line and Seabourn. Under the terms of the new agreement, all 26 Carnival Cruise Line vessels will be provided with the Regs4ships solution.Regs4ships…

21 Jun 2018

Freeport of Riga Joins Cruise Lines International Association

Continuing its active work on attracting more cruise ships and, respectively, more cruise passengers to Riga, the Freeport of Riga Authority has become a member of CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association), the world’s largest cruise industry association, said a press release. Membership in this organisation will open a path for closer cooperation between the Freeport of Riga Authority and the world’s largest cruise line operators, thus facilitating the development of the cruise sector in the Port of Riga. Founded in 1975, CLIA is the world’s largest cruise industry organisation, which unites all the players in the sector, i.e., cruise line operators, cruise ports, tourism companies, service providers and even shipbuilding companies and suppliers of technical equipment.

18 Apr 2018

Queen Elizabeth 2 Reopens as Floating Hotel in Dubai

Photo: QE2.com

The Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) ocean liner has been given a new lease of life as a floating hotel in Dubai, 10 years after the Gulf Arab emirate bought it for $100 million.State-owned Dubai World bought the QE2 from Cunard Line in 2007, but the 2008 financial crisis delayed any plans for the 40-year-old vessel, one of the world's most famous ships.Now the QE2, permanently moored at Mina Rashid port, has been refurbished based on the original design, from its carpets to the theatre…

19 Jan 2018

Asbestos: Maritime’s Ticking Time Bomb

(Photo: Lucion Marine)

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) should amend regulations banning the use of asbestos and asbestos containing materials (ACM) in ships, says John Chillingworth, senior marine principal at Lucion Marine. Regulations under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) state that if asbestos is found onboard a ship built after July 2002 then the vessel’s flag registry, in conjunction with its classification society, issues a non-extendable exemption certificate, providing the owner with a three-year window in which to remove the asbestos.

18 Dec 2017

Tackling the Threat of Shipborne Legionella

© Adobe Stock

Legionella can plague marine vessels, but an effective water safety plan can help to mitigate the risk, says John Chillingworth, senior marine principal at Lucion Marine. Initial symptoms of Legionella usually include flu-like symptoms such as headaches, muscle pain and fever, with symptoms of pneumonia once bacteria begin to infect the lungs. There are different degrees of Legionella: the worst can cause death but there is a lesser known form called Pontiac, which can often be misdiagnosed as flu and can only be accurately verified by having a urine test.

08 Dec 2017

Hopkins Named Managing Director at Harris Pye UK

Nigel Hopkins (Photo: Harris Pye)

Nigel Hopkins has been appointed Managing Director of Harris Pye UK Ltd based at the company’s headquarters in Llandow in Wales. He joined Harris Pye on May 1 this year working alongside Dave Hayden, the company’s retiring Managing Director at the Harris Pye UK headquarters in Llandow, South Wales before officially taking over from Dave Hayden on October  1, 2017. Nigel Hopkins started his engineering career in the merchant navy spending 13 years sailing on a variety of vessels including oil tankers…

18 Nov 2016

Cruiseport Boston Closes Out 2016 Cruise Season

Anthem of the Seas (Photo: Royal Caribbean International)

As Cruiseport Boston closes out its successful 2016 season, 2017 is already shaping up to be a record year with 151 calls scheduled for next cruise season. The 2016 season saw 115 calls by a record 32 unique ships with ten maiden calls to the port, including Royal Caribbean International’s Anthem of the Seas, the largest cruise ship to ever call the Port of Boston. Cruiseport Boston has seen years of steady growth which has contributed to the booming cruise business in Boston.

15 Aug 2016

Kiel Port Marks 2,500th Cruise Ship Visit

Kiel is today (Saturday, 13th Aug.) celebrating the arrival of its 2,500th cruise ship visitor Cunard Line’s “Queen Elizabeth”, which berthed this morning to mark the event. The President of the City of Kiel, Hans-Werner Tovar paid tribute to the occasion during a reception at the Ostseekai Cruise Terminal. “2500 visits are an enormous accomplishment and one achieved over many years of partnership and co-operation involving the port itself, shipping companies and service providers. I am proud that Kiel is one of the leading cruise shipping ports in northern Europe”, he said. To commemorate the 2500th visit, an artist’s wooden sculpture of a pile mooring was unveiled at the terminal. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co.

31 May 2016

Queen Mary 2 set for Extensive Blohm + Voss Refit

On May 27, at 8:00 PM, the Queen Mary 2 docked at Blohm+Voss at dry dock ELBE 17, well-known to the ocean liner. There, the flagship of the long-established British shipping company Cunard Line will undergo the largest refit program since being brought into service. It is the sixth time that the Queen Mary 2 docks at Blohm+Voss. A total of 50 new cabins are fitted or remodeled in line with this year’s master refit, 35 of them in the front section of deck 13. In addition, Blohm+Voss has prefabricated several steel deck sections with a total weight of approx. 200 tons that will also be installed on deck 13 by the shipyard’s specialists; furthermore, comprehensive modernizations in the hotel, entertainment and gastronomy areas of the ocean liner are part of the current construction schedule.

25 Apr 2016

Port of Kiel's Cruise Season is Underway

Photo courtesy of Port of Kiel

The cruise shipping season got underway in the Port of Kiel in the early hours of today with the arrival of the season’s first ship AIDAluna at the Ostseekai Terminal. The cruise ship is coming in after from a transfer trip from the Caribbean and will be based in Kiel – as will the AIDAvita and the AIDAlaura - for the whole of the summer season. During an on-board reception, Captain Marc-Dominique Tidow, representing the ship, its passengers and crew, was given a cordial welcome to Kiel by PORT OF KIEL Managing Director Dr. Dirk Claus.

22 Oct 2015

Port of Kiel: Cruise Shipping Sets Passenger Record

"AIDAcara" in the port of Kiel (Photo: Port of Kiel)

Press release- This year’s cruise shipping season in Kiel was ending on Tuesday October 20th with a visit by the “AIDAcara”. Overall the port registered 133 calls this year by 25 different ships with a total tonnage of more than 8.6 million GT (an increase of 19.4% over last year). The port’s cruise terminals saw 458,771 passengers (29.6% more than in 2014) board or leave a cruise ship. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the PORT OF KIEL (Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co. KG) said: “Both passenger figures and overall tonnage totals have set new records for Kiel”.

18 Sep 2015

Genting HK to Buy Lloyd Werft Shipyard

Photo: Lloyd Werft

Genting Hong Kong has agreed to acquire the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany, in a deal that will see the company invest €17.5 million for a 50 percent ownership of the land and 70 percent of the new build business. The acquisition remains subject to final purchase conditions. Genting, a corporation primarily involved in the cruise, hospitality, leisure and entertainment businesses, is the owner Star Cruises and a major shareholder in Norwegian Cruise Line. Earlier this year, the company spent $550 million to acquire Crystal Cruises from Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha.

02 Apr 2015

“AIDAcara” Opens Kiel’s 2015 Cruise Shipping Season

AIDAcara (Photo: Port of Kiel)

Kiel’s 2015 cruise shipping season gets under way on Easter Saturday, April 4th. That’s when the first ocean-going cruise ship of the year, “AIDAcara”, ties up at the Ostseekai Terminal after calling at Lisbon, Le Havre and Dover. During the coming season Kiel expects a total of 127 calls by 23 different luxury cruise liners, many of them very big ships of more than 250 m in length. The Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) Dr. Dirk Claus said: “The trend towards ever bigger cruise ships continues.

06 Feb 2015

New Wastewater Treatment for Queen Mary 2

Wärtsilä Hamworthy Membrane BioReactor system (Image courtesy of Wärtsilä)

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 will be fitted with a Wärtsilä advanced wastewater treatment system, enabling the cruise ship to comply with the IMO’s requirements concerning the prevention of pollution from ships. The contract, awarded by Cunard Line during the third quarter of2014, will see the installation of two Wärtsilä’s Hamworthy Membrane BioReactor (MBR) systems to replace existing onboard solutions which are now due for replacement. Wärtsilä said its MBR solution is designed to facilitate the management and treatment of both grey and black wastewater…

16 Jan 2015

Port of Kiel Posts Positive Results for 2014

Photos courtesy: Port of Kiel

The Port of Kiel can post positive results for 2014. Both cargo handling and passenger totals continued to rise. The port turned over 6.43 million tons of cargo, 1.6 % more than in the previous year. Stena Line’s Kiel-Gothenburg route recorded the biggest increase in general cargo handling while Color Line’s Kiel-Oslo service posted the strongest growth in passenger transport. During the year a total of 1.98 million passengers started or ended a ferry or cruise ship journey in Kiel - an increase of 1.9 %. Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co.

17 Oct 2014

Kiel's 2014 Cruise Shipping Season Ends

Photo: Port of Kiel

This year’s cruise shipping season in Kiel closes on the evening of October 18 when the AIDAcara sets sail for the Canary Islands. Dr. Dirk Claus, the Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co KG), said, “We can look back on a season full of highlights and one which has also been marked by the inauguration of our fifth terminal berth for cruise ships.” The new passenger pavilion at the Berth 1 cruise shipping facility in the Ostuferhafen was officially inaugurated at the start of June when the 114,000 GT, 290 m long Costa Pacifica berthed there.

13 Sep 2014

SMM 2014 Witnesses Record Turnout

SMM was another full success. With more than 2,100 exhibitors from all around the world, including 150 first-timers, with 50,000 industry visitors and roughly 90,000 square metres of exhibition space, SMM has demonstrated once again what it means to be the leading international trade fair of the maritime industry. After four days brimming with activity, the 26th SMM came to a close today. "We set new records this year," said Bernd Aufderheide, CEO and President of Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH. "The excellent turnout not only showed that companies are ready to meet the current challenges with determination, but it also revealed a growing appreciation for collaboration," he added.

12 Sep 2014

Carnival UK Announces Executive Appointments

Carnival Corporation & plc announced that David Dingle has been appointed chairman of Carnival UK and David Noyes, currently executive vice president operations, has been promoted to the CEO role, with operating responsibility for the UK-based brands P&O Cruises and Cunard Line. Dingle and Noyes will take up their new roles on October 1, and will both report to Carnival Corporation & plc president and CEO Arnold Donald. “This moves allows us to strengthen further our overall leadership in the critically important UK marketplace, while also promoting from within to leverage the skills, experience and capabilities of our executive team,” Donald said.

18 Aug 2014

Propulsion Woes Bring Queen Victoria to Early Refit

Queen Victoria (Photo courtesy of Cunard Line)

Cunard’s Queen Victoria to undergo multimillion dollar refit at Blohm & Voss Shipyard in January 2015, nearly one year ahead of its planned December 2015 maintenance. Cunard Line announced last week that its liner Queen Victoria will enter the Blohm & Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, in January 2015 for a multimillion dollar refit. The drydocking, originally scheduled for December 2015, will come nearly one year ahead of schedule due to problems with the one of the ship’s propulsion units, as a bearing will need replacing.

19 May 2014

German Shipyard Welcomes Cunard's QE to Dry-Dock

The cruise ship 'Queen Elizabeth', has arrived at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, for her first scheduled dry-docking since she entered service in 2010, inform Cunard Line. “Queen Elizabeth is already a much loved ship and following this multi-million dollar refit, she is sure to shine brightly for years to come,” said David Dingle, CEO for Cunard Line. On the technical side, scrubber technology (exhaust gas cleaning system) is being installed in line with Cunard’s commitment to minimising the company’s environmental impact. In response to passenger demand and changing demographics, a total of nine new single staterooms are being created on Deck 2 midships by remodeling part of Queen Elizabeth’s casino.

07 May 2014

Lisbon Sees Record Cruise Passenger Numbers

Total 18,000 passengers and crew arrive by sea in one day; last year saw record number of tourists, rise continues. A record 13,000 passengers disembarked on Tuesday in the port of Lisbon from the towering hulls of cruise ships, including Cunard Line's gigantic trio of "Queens" making a rare joint stopover in a nod to the destination's growing popularity. Tourism has been an important element in helping Portugal's economy emerge last year from its worst recession since the 1970s, alleviating its high unemployment rate from record highs of over 16 percent by generating jobs in tourism centres like Lisbon, Porto and the southern region of Algarve.

06 May 2014

Record Cruise Passenger Arrivals at Lisbon

A record 13,000 passengers disembarked on Tuesday in the port of Lisbon from the towering hulls of cruise ships, including Cunard Line's gigantic trio of "Queens" making a rare joint stopover in a nod to the destination's growing popularity. Tourism has been an important element in helping Portugal's economy emerge last year from its worst recession since the 1970s, alleviating its high unemployment rate from record highs of over 16 percent by generating jobs in tourism centres like Lisbon, Porto and the southern region of Algarve. Tourism-related revenues account for more than 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product that shrank in full-year 2013, but is expected to grow 1.2 percent this year, just as Portugal exits an international bailout.