Monday, August 25, 2014 - 10:06 by ce-press
Bergen is preparing itself to homeport Viking Ocean Cruises’ first ship, Viking Star, at Festningskaien on her maiden season next year. From May 15 to 17 operations will take place behind the existing ISPS fences.
In addition the ro-ro ramp at Jekteviken has been extended by five metres and two bollards of 200t each and one bollard of 100t have been installed. Early next year, four 200t bollards will be installed in readiness for the cruise season. These are designed to accommodate ships such as Royal Caribbean International’s Anthem of the Seas and for future newbuildings. New fenders are also being added.
This year 11 newcomers to the Norwegian city, including L’Austral, Seabourn Quest, Emerald Princess, Horizon and Louis Aura, are calling. In total there are 326 calls scheduled bringing about 475,000 passengers.
Next year 255 calls are booked, many from the larger vessels including P&O Cruises’ newbuilding Britannia and TUI Cruises’ newbuilding Mein Schiff 4. Other first timers are MSC Sinfonia, Europa 2, Costa Favolosa and Disney Magic.
The drop in calls is attributed to the Emissions Control Area 0.1% sulphur limit that comes into effect 1 January 2015 by Helen Hovland, marketing manager Port of Bergen. She says: “I can’t think of any other reason. The Port of Bergen has no complaints, the response from the cruise companies is good.” She adds: “I think it is the same decrease in all the ports of Norway”. Indeed as stated in the Cruise Europe July Newsletter, calls to Norway in 2015 number 1,500 compared to 2,200 this year.
