April

Viking Line is satisfied with the start of the year for Viking Grace; the number of passengers during the first three months totals nearly 330,000. This helped Viking Line to increase its market share on the Turku–Åland–Stockholm route to 58.4 per cent (as at 31 March 2013), while a year ago at the same time it was slightly over 47 per cent.Viking Line’s newest vessel M/S Viking Grace started operations on 15 January, and the number of passengers during the first three months (15 January – 15 April 2013) totalled 327,925. The number of passengers attracted by M/S Viking Grace on the Turku–Åland–Stockholm route increased by 58.6 per cent compared with the same period last year. Then the route was operated with M/S Isabella.”We are happy to see that new customers have found their way to Viking Grace, that’s what we hoped would happen. And it’s particularly pleasing that our faithful regular customers feel at home onboard the new vessel”, says Mikael Backman, CEO of Viking Line.The conference rooms, new restaurant world and a completely new kind of Spa & Wellness department are the most popular services on Viking Grace. The high-quality cabins and the quiet running of the vessel have also gathered a lot of positive feedback from customers.Development work continuesViking Grace has been positively received among different customer groups, and Viking Line is very satisfied with the feedback from customers. According to the CEO, Viking Line cannot afford to stop, but Viking Grace as a cruise product is continuously a target of new development ideas.”We aim at continuously developing our services and products on the basis of the feedback from customers in order to be able to serve them in the best possible way and exceed their expectations also in the future”, Mr Backman sums up.Viking Line has set up a working group for the development of cruise products. The scope of the working group includes all Viking Line vessels, not just Viking Grace. In the future, new service concepts will be introduced on different ships, and the best concepts will be used on other ships, too. The working group is headed by CEO Mikael Backman.
M/S Viking Grace technical data:
Length: 218 m
Width: 31,8 m
Cruising speed: 22 knots
GT: 57,600
Route: Turku–Mariehamn/Långnäs–Stockholm
Classification: Lloyds Register
Flag country: Finland
Number of passengers: 2,800
Number of cabins: 880
Lane metres: cargo 1,275 m, passenger cars 500 m on deck 4 and 500 m on deck 5

With our specially-designed new ship, ABN RAJMAHAL, we are proud to announce the inauguration of regular weekly departure 7-night Ganges cruises from Patna right up to the city of Varanasi, starting in July 2014. These cruises will serve as a basis for sightseeing of India's holiest city as well as an introduction to completely untouched areas of rural India. Operating between two cities with excellent flight connections, the cruises should be easy to package and easy to sell, with selling prices starting from US $1407 per person in twin or single cabin. Full details of the provisional itinerary, Bengal Despatch cruises 9 and 10, can be found on the website.

Visitors to Thailand can now explore the countryside on board a traditional teak rice barge, the Thanatharee, that cruises the Chao Phraya River from Bangkok through to the Central Plains, a region rarely visited by mass tourism beyond the ancient Siamese capital of Ayutthaya on one-, two-, and three-day itineraries.

The concept of developing the Thanatharee into a passenger vessel began in 1999 by two entrepreneurs who were keen to bring foreign visitors into closer contact with local rural Thai people. The Thanatharee dates back to the late 1940’s and was once used to carry rice from the central plains to Bangkok. It has been converted into a comfortable vessel, with live-aboard facilities including bedrooms and a restaurant. The boat has 12 beds in six private, air-conditioned cabins, two showers, two toilets, and an upper deck with relaxation space and sundeck. All meals are served onboard and guests are welcome to join in with the cooking if they want to learn about Thai cuisine

Stockholm
The world’s first fuelling vessel for LNG (liquefied natural gas) was christened in a traditional christening ceremony in Stockholm, by Helena Bonnier, the chairman of Ports of Stockholm (Stockholms Hamnar), in the presence of the Minister of Infrastructure, Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd, among others.

In the spring of 2012, the Swedish government decided to support what was then a TEN-T request about a LNG fuelling vessel. One year later, the ship is christened and constitutes a an additional component in a competitive maritime shipping with quality, safety and a strong environmental profile, says the Swedish Minister of Infrastructure, Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd.

The LNG fuelling vessel, Seagas, is the first in the world of its kind, and is classified under the same regulations that apply to oceangoing LNG-tankers. The fuelling vessel will on a daily basis, supply 60-70 tons of LNG to M/S Viking Grace, the new cruise-ship of Viking Line, when the ship is moored at Stadsgården in Stockholm. The fuelling process takes just under an hour and is done from ship to ship through a completely new way of bunkering fuel. Seagas is stationed at Loudden in Stockholm.

- LNG implies major environmental benefits in comparison to traditional maritime fuel. It is gratifying that we, thanks to the LNG-terminal in Nynäshamn and our purpose-built fuelling vessel, Seagas, can contribute to the infrastructure solution that enables M/S Viking Grace to bunker LNG from ship to ship in the port of Stockholm, says Jan Bäckvall, CEO, AGA AB.

Venice, Italy 
“An important step forward: the establishment of a ‘green zone’ extending to the entire Lagoon is a fundamental, essential aspect of the process of dealing with the issue of large cruise ships in Venice,” were the words chosen by Venice’s mayor, Giorgio Orsoni, to welcome the voluntary agreement between cruise lines on the use of green fuel upon passing the entrance to the Lagoon harbour, signed on March 22 by cruise lines and the city of Venice.

“We expect that the competent institutions,” commented Mayor Orsoni, “will provide a clear, practical solution — I hope in the near future — to the issue of the compatibility of the transit of large cruise ships through St. Mark’s Basin. However, the city demanded answers concerning the reduction of pollutants in the air, and this second agreement allows us to solve a problem that Venice has always regarded as a priority and that required action.”

Cruise ships have voluntarily decided from now on to enter the Lagoon using only green fuel and adopting the strictest measures to reduce air pollution.

In fact, through the agreement, known as “Venice Blue Flag II,” cruise lines commit to operate the main and auxiliary engines of their ships with marine fuel with sulphur content of no more than 0.1% (lower than the EU guidelines, which recently set restrictions at 0.5%) immediately upon passing the Lido harbour entrance and while travelling through the Lagoon’s marine canals. It also charges the Coast Guard with using its personnel to conduct adequate supervision in order to verify observance of the agreement. Fuel analyses will be provided under a specific agreement signed by the Coast Guard, Port Authority and Customs Office.