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Eight Black Sea ports are members of MedCruise, including the
newly signed up Bulgarian port of Bourgas. The region was the subject of a forum
at the MedCruise General Assembly in Constantza.
According to Sochi Ports’ David Stupelman, MedCruise board director for the
Black Sea, ‘five years ago there was only one Black Sea port in the association,
now we have eight and hope in time to also add Varna and Novorossiysk.’
He added, ‘with the lines deploying more and larger ships in the region many
ports are studying their cruise facilities, services and shorex to see how they
can improve their offering to the cruise market.’
His own port Sochi is an example where ongoing works include new cruise berths
and a terminal on target be ready in 2014 when the Russian resort hosts the
Winter Olympics. Sevastopol and Bourgas are planning new cruise facilities too.
Princess Cruises’ Rob Roberts told delegates, ‘whilst ports such as Yalta and
Odessa score high in our passenger surveys for satisfaction and appeal, port
fees in the Black Sea tend to be higher on average than in the Med.’
Both Odessa and Constantza have announced a reduction in port fees with the
Romanian sea port cutting passenger tax from €5 to €2.5 whilst Odessa, the most
popular port with 75 ocean cruise ships and 75 river ships expected this year,
has implemented three initiatives: a 20% reduction in all port fees, a waiver of
fees on any ship making more than two calls a year and a 50% discount on port
dues at all Ukrainian ports, informed Yuriy Vaskov, first deputy general
director of Odessa Sea Commecial Port.
The question of sourcing passengers from countries surrounding the Black Sea was
proposed by Tura Turizm’s Erkunt Oner who feels this would help to grow regional
cruise business. He cited an example of a ship based out of Istanbul offering a
seven day itinerary half filled by international passengers and half from local
markets: with partial turnarounds say from Turkish passengers, Russian
passengers in Sochi and Ukrainian passengers in Odessa.
All Costa Group (Costa, AIDA and Iberocruceros) brands will sail in the Black
Sea in 2011 but Costa Cruises’ Elisabetta De Nardo said ‘we are not yet ready to
start major sourcing locally’ although she did not discount it for the future.
MSC Cruises’ Capt Luigi Pastena noted the restriction of passengers ships over
300mtr long from transitting through the Bosphorus currently curtails MSC from
taking its largest 333mtr long Fantasia-class ships into the Black Sea and he
called on the local authorities to lift this restriction.
Royal Caribbean’s John Tercek affirmed it was important for ports to be capable
of handling larger ships and he also suggested they think harder and more
imaginatively about the shoreside offering. ‘Ask yourselves what it is that we
can offer and what would appeal to international visitors arriving at your port
for the first time.’
Looking at emerging ports with limited cruise business but with interesting
potential, Sergey Pryadko, director of Crimea-based shorex provider Select Black
Sea, highlighted the historic cities of Kerch and Evpatoriya in Ukraine. ‘Both
are listed as Eternal Cities by UNESCO and offer history dating back over 2,600
years. |
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