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Unique Cruise Solutions The news you need to know |
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Cruise News for the Corporate Travel Professional |
March 2011 Edition |
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Louis Cruises may no longer fly the Greek Flag |
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In the dark light of the recent Greek pension fiasco, the Cypriot
Cruise Line “Louis Cruises” has acted
on the feeling of being financially forced to abandon the Greek flag on its
vessels. This decision came about following a public stand-off concerning
pension fund contributions, which according to the Greek authorities threatens
to cost the jobs of around 350 Greek Crew members. The prevailing situation in Greece with its well publicized austerity measures, no doubt impacted on the new laws and many empathize, that for Louis Cruises to realistically operate within the waters of Mediterranean, they had little choice but to move away from the Greek flag. Most Cruise analysts would agree that the new Greek Pensions legislation translates into a completely uncompetitive situation for Louis Cruises, by encouraging non EU flagged Cruise Ships to home port in Greek ports for the first time. If Louis Cruises actually go ahead with the change of flagging, it will a sad day for Greek Cruising, because in reality the Greek registry will become completely absent of any notable Cruise ship for the first time in recent history, which is a major deal for such a rich sea-faring nation. What will they say at Possidonia in June! Louis Cruises wasted no time in their application to change the flag of the 2 below ships to a Maltese registry…· Louis Cristal 25,611 gross tonnes· Louis Calypso 11,162 gross tonnes A third ship the Louis Emerald (26,428 gross tonnes and currently tied up for the winter) may also fly the Maltese flag, however this has yet to be confirmed. Interestingly, a fourth ship, the Louis Majesty 40,876 gross tonnes already flies the Maltese flag. From a financial perspective the switch to the Maltese flag is calculated to offer savings of about €300,000 per month for each ship. In many respects the catalyst for the move was a legal action case against Louis Cruises by the Greek Seamen’s Pension Fund, which is attempting to claim in the region of €5 million ($6.8 million) in unpaid contributions over the period of 5 years, a total that has swelled up to €15 million with accumulated interest and punitive fines. With such looming legal Pensions cases, one wonders who would ever want to fly a Greek Flag for cruising again. There may yet be glimmer of hope however, because the previous Greek government administration did manage to make an agreement between Louis Cruises and the Seafarers’ Unions in 2005, although this was in a different economic climate. Louis Cruises strongly claim that they always respected the number of Greeks nationals required to qualify for the arrangement. Former Festival Cruises Marine Operations veteran and Senior General Manager of the Louis fleet Captain George Koumpenas is reported to have said “This is unsatisfactory for everybody, but we have reached a point where we have no other means of protesting.” He went onto stress “I hope that even at the last moment there will be a solution.” Louis Cruises operated around 6 vessels under the Greek flag, however it recently disposed of the Aquamarine and Aegean Pearl. Nevertheless the Company still employs over 700 Greek national Seamen. It is expected however that in general hotel staff and lower deck and engine ranks will bear the brunt of about 350 job losses. Louis Cruises still plan on employing Greek Captains, Senior Officers and Senior Engineers even for the Maltese flag operations. |
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Worldwide Travel & Cruise Assoc., Inc. 150 S. University Dr. Ste E, Plantation, FL 33324 - USA Tel: +1 954 452 8800 Fax: +1 954 252 3945 EMail: sales@cruiseco.com |
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