Fincantieri delivers Ventura, its largest delivery

Early April witnessed the handing over of P&O Cruises’ 114,000gt Ventura, the largest passenger ship built to date by the Italian shipyard group Fincantieri, ahead of the vessel’s official christening at Southampton in the UK. Ventura is the 24th cruise ship to be constructed by the Monfalcone shipyard, which celebrates its centenary this year.

The 290m-long Ventura has a maximum capacity of 4,850 persons, including 3,592 guests and 1,258 crew. (A full ship description will appear in the next edition of The Cruise Ship).

Delivery of Ventura further strengthens Fincantieri’s relations with P&O Cruises. The two companies started working together three years ago when Fincantieri built, at the Marghera yard, the 82,000gt Arcadia, the fleet’s previous flagship. A sister ship to Ventura is also on Fincantieri’s orderbook at Monfalcone, and is set for delivery in the spring of 2010.

Since 1990 Fincantieri has delivered a total of 44 cruise ships, of which 41 were for the six main brands that make up the Carnival Group. Over the next three years a further 18 vessels are due to be built at the group’s shipyards in Monfalcone, Marghera, Sestri Ponente and Ancona.

Fincantieri recently released annual results which showed a net profit of h45 million for 2007. The company’s orderbook now stands at h4.2 billion, ensuring a full workload for the yards for the next three years at least.

Fantasy float-out

The technical float out of the 133,500gt MSC Fantasia has taken place at Aker Yards France in Saint Nazaire. To complete the operation, it was necessary to dredge a half-mile-long channel to a draft of 8m, allowing for 6.6m of the hull to be submerged.

Special fenders were placed on the side of the ship during the operation. These protected the hull, but also assisted in keeping the vessel on course as it left the basin against the direction of the current.

MSC Fantasia is due to be christened in Naples in December. It will be the tenth, and largest vessel in the Italian cruise operator’s fleet.

Smoking rules confuse cruise passengers

An online survey carried out by the cruise community website www.Cruises.co.uk has shown that cruise ship passengers in the UK are confused about smoking rules on board cruise ships. Eight months after a smoking ban was introduced in England, around 66 per cent of the 5,500 people surveyed in the online poll said they did not know what the smoking policy was on board cruise ships, with operators adding to the confusion by often not specifying what they term as ‘designated areas’.

The confusion has arisen as British law does not apply to cruise ships either docked or travelling within international waters. Therefore, cruise companies are left to apply their own laws, meaning different rules apply to different vessels.

The survey also revealed a worrying health and safety statistic as almost a quarter (23 per cent) admitted to either throwing a cigarette overboard, or seeing someone else do it. This is particularly disturbing following the Star Princess disaster in 2006 when a passenger’s discarded cigarette was blown back onto the ship causing extensive fire damage and one death.

Significantly, 68 per cent of respondents said they believed British ships should follow British law and ban smoking completely. This may suggest consumer pressure on UK-based cruise operators to come into line over the next few years.

Cruise consortium promises Marseille boom

An operating concession at the main Marseilles cruise terminal has been awarded to the three-way consortium of MSC Cruises, Costa Crociere and Louis Cruise in return for major growth guarantees.

In line with a call for proposals launched last June, the cruise liner trio has guaranteed 450 calls per year and annual throughput of one million passengers by 2011. Last year the port handled 430,000 cruise passengers, a 14 per cent increase on 2006.

The companies stated that they expect to generate 85 per cent of the traffic from their own activities but gave a commitment to offer equal treatment to any new operators at the terminal. They also undertook to establish a service quality agreement with the port authority.

Furlong expands into logistics

The Argentinan destination management company, Furlong Incoming, has acquired port agency logistics specialist Starlight MLS in a bid to improve the range of services it offers to cruise operators.

‘By delivering bundled services we are offering a cost effective solution to cruise lines calling at Argentina,’ says Mario Zirolli, president Furlong Incoming. The company believes that having a single organisation offering port and shore services will enable cruise companies to better co-ordinate shore excursions and port and turnaround operations in Argentina.

Italian cruise growth puts pressure on ports

Italian ports will this year handle 8.55 million passengers, almost 12 per cent cent up on 2007, according to a forecast by a leading Italian cruise agency company, Cemar. The number of cruise line calls into Italy is expected to rise by over 8 per cent to around 4720, Cemar suggests.

Sergio Senesi, Cemar president, explains, “This increase is due partly to non-seasonal cruising, with a significant rise in the number of vessels staying in the Mediterranean during the winter season, but also to the tendency of companies to place bigger vessels on the market.”

Cemar suggests that this year three ports – Civitavecchia, Venice and Naples – will take more than 50 per cent of the market for the first time, with Livorno also accounting for over 10 per cent of the Italian cruise market.

The company believes that the concentration of traffic in these ports will create significant difficulties from a logistics and operational viewpoint.

According to Mr Senesi: “This increase has not been supported by an adequate expansion of these ports. Not all of these ports will be capable of managing and sustaining such high levels of passenger traffic in an efficient manner.”

Siemens to equip more Aida vessels

Siemens Industry Solutions is to equip two further cruise ships for Aida Cruises with electrical and automation systems based on the Siship PAX platform. The multimillion-euro order from Meyer Werft in Germany was announced in March.

The scope of supply will include the electric propulsion system, power generation and distribution systems and automation technology The two ships will be delivered in 2011 and 2011, taking the number of Aida vessels equipped by Siemens to six.

New gensets for RCCL vessels

The Hamburg yard Blohm & Voss has been selected to equip the Royal Caribbean Celebrity vessel Summit with a new diesel genset during a two-week docking period. The investment is being made by RCCL against the background of fast rising bunker costs. (This class of ship is primarily powered by twin GE gas turbine driven alternators.) When equipped with the new 11,000kW diesel genset, the fuel consumption of the cruise liner will be considerably reduced.

To prepare for the installation of the new genset unit, a 100-tonne steel section will be installed and exhaust lines with a total length of about 70m will have to be rearranged. In addition, the outer coating below the waterline will be renewed and the main engine plant overhauled.

Another RCCL vessel, Brilliance of the Seas, is expected to arrive in Hamburg soon after and will also be provided with a new genset as part of its drydocking schedule.

NCL looking to sell ships?

There are reports from the market that Norwegian Cruise Line is looking to sell off three of its older vessels. The ships believed to be involved are the 1999-built Pride of Aloha (renamed Norwegian Jade) and the 1992-built Norwegian Dream and Norwegian Majesty.

Pullmantur Cruises hs been lined up to buy Pride of Aloha, while Louis Group of Cyprus has been linked with the other two ships.

Firsts for Carnival

Carnival Cruises’ soon-to-be-delivered 113,300gt Carnival Splendor will be used to break into two new markets. The 3,006-passenger capacity vessel will operate Carnival’s first ever Northern Europe schedule in July and August this year, with a rotation that includes Dover, Copenhagen, Warnemünde, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallinn and Amsterdam.

Carnival Splendor will also operate the line’s first South America cruises between January and March 2009. Destinations include ports in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Chile and Peru. CS