Sydney Harbour Wears Out its Cruise Ship Welcome
A parking nightmare in Sydney harbour left the giant cruise liner Radiance of the Seas unable to dock because the single berth big enough to take her was already occupied. With a tight schedule to meet, the cruise organisers were forced to pay half a million dollars early last month to hire a flotilla of small vessels to ferry 2,500 passengers ashore, and bring back more waiting to embark for the next voyage. "We have not done something like this ever anywhere else in the world," says Adam Goldstein, president and COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "It was completely foreseeable going back almost a decade that Sydney didn't have the infrastructure ultimately to support the ongoing growth in business," he adds.
Saga Pearl 2 Visits Port of Kiel
North Germany shore trips ever more popular with passengers. The cruise ship ‘Saga Pearl 2’ of Saga Cruises arrived in Kiel this morning (Monday, May 19th) from England for her first-ever visit to the port. She sailed over night through the Kiel Canal and was welcomed at the entrance to the Kiel Fiord with a water fountain display from a port tug which escorted the cruise ship to her berth at the Ostseekai. During a reception later on board, Kiel’s City President Hans-Werner Tovar and the Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (Seehafen Kiel)…
RINA Launches Yacht Marina Certification
International certification company RINA Services has launched a new certification scheme for yacht marinas. The MaRINA Excellence scheme focuses on the quality of the marina, sustainability and risk prevention. Marinas and dedicated yacht harbors are a key part of the tourist infrastructure. RINA has always placed great importance on environmental and sustainability issues. In the field of marinas it provides services that are indispensable for reducing the environmental impact of facilities.
Emerging from Fog
The various segments of the passenger vessel industry have undergone significant transformation in the last 12 months. It looks stronger as we head into the last six months of the year with ferries and charter yachts leading the way. Frankly, a year ago the passenger vessel industry was in some disarray faced with developing a security plan to meet the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 passed in Congress in wake of terrorism threats. Developing such a comprehensive plan by the end of 2003 proved to be an almost impossible task for an industry made up of mostly small boat owners. Coming to the rescue was the industry's trade association the Passenger Vessel Association (PVA). They developed the PVA Industry Standard for Security of Passenger Vessels and Small Passenger Vessels.
