Wednesday, October 18, 2017 - 09:07 by ce-press
Michael McCarthy, chairman Cruise Europe, took part in the top executive headline panel (pictured) at Seatrade Europe in September.
A wide-ranging number of issues was covered including whether the order book is sufficient to cater to the growing market; the industry’s need to ‘shout more’ about what it does environmentally; the development of technology particularly in terms of LNG and the variety of tonnage on offer.
Karl Pojer, CEO Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, put it most succinctly: “Each company must decide for itself what is best for them. There are many routes, there is not one solution.”
Each member of the panel was asked what their one wish would be. Both Roberto Martinoli, CEO Silversea Cruises, and Neil Palomba, president Costa Cruises, talked about infrastructure asking for “a better infrastructure to help grow this industry”, and “infrastructure worldwide to accept us” respectively.
On behalf of infrastructure, McCarthy highlighted “the utter frustration he and CE members have in delivering port infrastructure. “I just wish that we could reduce the time it takes to deliver port infrastructure from the current permitting and licencing of five to seven years down to two years to keep up with the technological change that is happening in the cruise industry.”
In terms of helping to get the message across about the industry’s credentials, he commented: “People complain about planes when they live near an airport and it is the same with cruise ships. The issue that we keep hammering home to the cruise lines is that we are custodians of the ports and we have a fiduciary duty to educate the people living in the port areas. We have to understand the implications and changes undertaken by the lines and assist in getting the message across about how green these ships are.”
“Most destinations like to see the big ships. The challenge is in dealing with that number of people coming off a ship and the ability of the region to disseminate that number. Cooperation and detailed scheduling is vitally important. Turn-arounds are probably easier at weekends but there has to be communication with the ports.
The desire to work more closely together is definitely on the agenda. Palomba, for example, said: “I think we need to collaborate more, communicate more with the destinations. We rely on, for example agents for knowledge. We need to listen to what the concerns are and work together to address those concerns.”
*At the Cruise Europe reception, sponsored by Columbus Cruise Centre and held in Hamburg on September 5, managing director Jens Skrede pointed out that membership had increased by 40 to 45 ports in the last four years alone, reaching 133 this year. It was here that the announcement was made that the Atlantic Alliance would be incorporated within CE. For more information, check out the CE September newsletter at http://www.cruiseeurope.com/news/cruise-europe-takes-on-the-atlantic-alliance-mantle.
