Friday, December 14, 2018 - 13:12 by ce-press
On September 10 Regal Princess became the first cruiseship to hook up to the shorepower facilities in Kristiansand. Next year the port is expecting between 10 to 15 cruiseships to make use of these new facilities.
The shorepower will be available at the pier 10 and pier 20. Pier 10 is the designated cruise pier but pier 20 is available should there be two vessels wanting to hook up on the same day.
Randi Haukom, sales manager cruise Kristiansand Kommune, commented: “Regal Princess was hooked up for approximately four hours. It was a test and so free of charge. We are very happy to conclude that this first plug-in was a success.” The price is list is not yet ready but discounts will be offered in 2019 as it acts as a prolonged test period.
The cost of the hydropower connected was about €4m. It is financed by the EU. The Port of Kristiansand is investing about €500,000 for the infrastructure.
On another subject, educating the community to the economic benefits of welcoming passengers to the city is an ongoing process, explained Haukom. For example, to those shops complaining they are getting no income on call days, the advantage of displaying a 25% taxback free sign with regard to goods made in Norway/Scandinavia and accepting Euros or US$ is explained. In addition having staff that can speak good English and also a little German helps.
“We try to educate the shopowners in town to really see the value in presenting local products to the guests. One shop in the shopping street sells jackets, raingear, boots, wool sweaters and underwear and many more products that are from brands like Helly Hansen, Bergans, Norrona, Devold etc, which are all Norwegian or Scandinavian high-quality brands which the passengers want. We try to teach them to expose what is genuine and of high quality,” she added.
