Season's Greetings from Cruise Europe

As 2016 is entering into the final weeks, it is time to reflect on another year at Cruise Europe (CE). This year has been another positive year for CE as an association where we confirmed our position as a leading cruise trade network.

Our membership has continued to grow. We are now 125 port members and associate members. Many of our members are small cruise ports that can get access to the industry via membership.

We have had very visible and vibrant pavilions at the trade shows in Fort Lauderdale and Tenerife. Thanks to our loyal members, we have been able to display the diversity of our region at central locations during these events. We have also hosted very-well attended receptions, bringing the broader cruise family together. Seatrade Cruise Global moved from Miami to Fort Lauderdale this year, causing a lot of questions from all involved. It worked quite well. Our reception was for the first time on a yacht. After some confusion about the docking of the vessel, we welcomed 250 guests on a packed yacht at the Hilton Marina pier.

Cruise Europe is all about partnership and dialogue. This was again evident both at our receptions and at our pavilions. Serious business meetings were facilitated on the stand with cruiselines during the shows with those member ports attending taking an active part in the exhibition.

Summer started with our annual Cruise Europe Conference (CEC) and AGM. This year we met in Dublin for a very successful event. Pat Ward and his team from Dublin Port Company put on a great show with world-class locations for our excursions and social events. The conference brought a record number of speakers, delegates and press from all over the world.

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) hosted their AGM in Dublin just after the CEC, and many of our members were taking parts in both events. The ESPO Cruise and Ferry Network “Code of good practice” was launched in Dublin.

Next year the annual CEC will be hosted in Bremerhaven and Bremen, Germany, from 25 to 27 April.

The last part of 2016 started with a trip to Sydney for our chairman. He was the keynote speaker at the Cruise Australia AGM in September. We have taken part in the regional dialogue workshop for the Baltic, hosted by the EU Commission. Waste reception facilities in ports is a key challenge in the years to come, and CE will follow the situation closely.

The autumn has also seen us sign a letter of intent with CLIA Europe, with the objective to work closer together on topics like environmental sustainability and regulations. We hope to bring our members more details on this collaboration prior to Seatrade Cruise Global in March.

So as we now enter the festive season, Cruise Europe would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful new year.

Best wishes from Michael and Jens