CT cruising for a bruising over luxury liner berthing decision

AGENTS AND operators of the P&O luxury cruise liner MV Oriana heaved a collective sigh of relief as she set sail from Cape Town for Britain last week after a near-faultless, yet complicated, portside operation. Even though the vessel’s agent, King & Sons, is happy and relieved over what it considers a success at Eastern Mole, where the ship berthed, and would wish to make use of it again if circumstances permit, National Ports Authority manager, Sanjay Govan, is unable to furnish such a guarantee. This casts a serious question mark over the future well-being of large cruise ships calling at Cape Town. Deene Collopy, King & Sons’ Cape Town branch manager who assisted operations manager Mike Magee with the difficult logistical operation, says bluntly that prospects are bleak if quality berthing cannot be assured. Ship operators, Carnival Group of the UK, wrote to key role players pointing to the huge economic benefits cruise ships brought to the local economies of ports they visit. “Every economic impact assessment I have ever seen has calculated this expenditure to be many more times than the cost of the call payable by the ship,” said general manager of fleet, marine and shore operations, Philip Naylor. “Passengers go ashore to spend money in shops, restaurants and bars, they make use of taxis, guides and other local transport, they visit tourist attractions and purchase gifts for friends and family.” Oriana’s affable master, Captain Charlie Carr, concedes that the Cape Town call went off satisfactorily but is not without criticism of the NPA. “These cruises do not come about overnight. There is a lot of advance planning (around two years) and to be told only three weeks before the vessel was due to arrive it had been relocated…the attitude of the port authorities is somewhat arrogant, it’s not the usual support we expect of countries and that has caused quite a lot of, shall we say, disappointment.” While unable to comment on the future of Cape Town as a prime cruise liner call, Carr says: “I would say we probably will come back but berthing facilities will be a primary consideration in allowing passengers to derive the maximum benefit from their experience.” The non-liner director for King & Sons/Grindrod South Africa, Dan Dalton, told FTW he had received a call from MSC about a forthcoming passenger vessel with “similar problems” – no doubt berthing concerns – and the “lack of interest from the ports.” “One would think they would learn,” he said.