Wednesday, December 14, 2016 - 19:37 by ce-press
Dublin Port Co (DPC) may have begun courting Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd a couple of years ago but it was not until Miguel Reyna visited Dublin, during the Cruise Europe Conference in May, and saw the facilities for himself that the idea of Celebrity Cruises homeporting snowballed into a reality.
Airlift and situation played a part in the decision too. Pat Ward, head of corporate services DPC, commented: “It is our strong view that Dublin is strategically positioned on the edge of Europe. Presently there is greater direct airlift to Dublin than in Germany. Aer Lingus has over one million seats available from the US to Ireland with direct flights to Miami amongst an array of other cities and US airlines also have great activity. Immigration and refuelling take place here.”
These and other factors, including the airport being 15 minutes uninterrupted transit from the port and the city just a 10 minutes walk, helped bring about Celebrity confirming its first homeport calls in 2018. From April to June 2018, one of the Solstice-class ships will operate five cruises out of Dublin with an estimated 14,000 passengers due to embark.
Celebrity Silhouette (319m in length) made a transit call for the first time last year which demonstrated the ease of port accessibility. Ward explained that previously “the harbour master, pilots and tug master went to the Maritime College based in Cork utilising the simulator because the mind set last year was that we could not take a ship more than 300m into the port.” It worked.
Commenting on Celebrity’s first homeporting operation Jo Rzymowska, managing director, Celebrity Cruises UK and Ireland, said: “Celebrity Cruises has enjoyed significant support from our travel agent partners and guests throughout Ireland for many years. We know that our guests from around the world, and in Ireland, will love the warm welcome they receive when starting a holiday in Dublin. Calling Dublin home in 2018 is a major development to our European deployment.”
Ward added: “It has been a clear ambition of Dublin Port to attract a cruiseline to offer our great city as a homeport. Today, that ambition is realised and Celebrity Cruises will be an important step-change in our history. The opportunities that this new investment will bring are extensive. We look forward to maximising this new platform for growth and welcoming yet more cruiseships and holidaymakers to Dublin for the first time.” The move is worth an estimated €6m to Dublin and the surrounding area in knock-on economic benefits.
Up until now homeport calls have numbered about five a year and these are from smaller vessels such as Seven Seas Voyager, Europa 2, Silver Whisper, Saga Sapphire, Magellan and AIDAvita. In 2016, 180,00 passengers visited on over a 110 calls.
Cruise Dublin was set up in February this year with both the port and the city intent on aggressively promoting Dublin for both transit and homeport calls. Already some of the captains from cruiselines have been brought over to demonstrate the port’s competence in accommodating the ships.
The €230m Alexander Basin Redevelopment (ABR) has now started. The port has set about getting licences for as huge dredging project which will take place over a six to seven year period. A 10km channel will be dredged beginning close to the Eastlink Bridge and having a depth of 10m with deeper pockets carved for the berths.
The ABR project represents one-third of the infrastructure developments envisaged under the company’s masterplan and once completed “the port will be unrecognisable from today” according to Ward. When completed it will be possible to accommodate two 360m-long and one 220m-long ships or a combination thereof at the 3km quay wall where there will be a turning circle to accommodate ships of 360m in length. It is planned that the building will take place without disrupting customers. Ocean Quay will continue to be available for both large and small ships.
In 2018 Dublin will host the Tall Ship Regatta at the same time as the annual River Fest with one million visitors expected to attend.
