The fourth edition of theCruise Trade Showon 21 May 2022 in Le Havre markedthe beginning of the 2022 season!Hard hit since the beginning of the pandemic, sea and river cruise operatorsarenowpicking uptheir activitiesagainwith a new season thatislooking strong. This year the Seine Axis ports will be welcoming some 200 cruise ships, 130 calling at Havre, 51 atHonfleurand 14 at Rouen.
Optimism is the watchword for operators offering sea and riverliveaboardcruises. This year, 242 sea cruise ships arein serviceout of a total global fleet of nearly 320. This is the highest level of activity recorded since the beginning of the global pandemic anditstotal shutdown of cruises in the spring of 2020. The new seasonalsopromises to beverydynamic for the Seine Axis ports.
In 2022, 130cruisecalls are scheduledforLe Havre. Three newseacruise lines (Virgin Voyages, Ambassador Cruise Line and Mystic Cruises) areplanningto call for the first time in Le Havre and fifteen cruise ships will be makinginaugural callsat the port. Out of the 130 scheduled calls, 24designatePorteOcéaneas“/terminal port”,one example beingthe prestigiousQueen Mary IIthat will be setting sail in September for an ocean crossing to New York.
A new terminal on Le Havre’sFlorida Point
The plan for a new cruise terminal due to be built on Florida Point in LeHavretestifiesto regional actors’ determination to develop thisportactivity. Thedriver for thefuture infrastructure is a public interest grouping (GIP)notable members of whichare the“Le Havre SeineMétropole”cityand district federation and HAROPA PORT. The project has been sized toprocesssome 600,000 passengers by 2030, compared with 400,000 currently. It represents investment of just under €90m in public works to be carried out over the next few years. The three quayside berths on Florida Pointwill be equipped with electricityconnectionpoints at the rate of one installation each year,starting in 2023. HAROPA PORT is devoting €20m tomakingthese “zero fumes” callspossible.
51 cruise ships accommodated at Quay no. 3 inHonfleur
The first cruise ship of the season inHonfleurarrived at the port on Thursday, 14 April. TheHanseatic Spirit,operated by Germany’sHapag-Lloyd line,made itsinauguralcall at the port.The traditional inaugural tompion was awarded on board.TheHanseatic Spiritenteredservicein August2021.She is the most recent addition to theHapag Llyod Cruisesfleet.This expedition cruise ship can accommodate230passengers and175crew for luxury cruises.She is138m long with a beam of22m.
Seven other inaugural calls are expected at Honfleur: Le Dumont d’Urville, Silver Moon, Le Bellot,Sea Cloud Spirit, Ambience, World Navigator and Bolette. Worthy of especial note is the arrival on Saturday of the Bellot, the fifth vessel in the “Explorers” class operated by Ponant, a French company. The Boréal and the Dumont d’Urville, also operated by Ponant, will also be stopping over in Normandy. The Europa 2, a Hapag-Lloyd premium cruise ship, also called at Honfleur on 26 April last. The season’s largest ship will be the Ambience, 245m long with capacity for 1,400 passengers. This ship, operated by Ambassador Cruise Line, will be making three calls at Honfleur.
Four inaugural calls at Rouen
Also on Thursday14April, the Rouen CruiseTerminalwelcomedtheOcean Nova,its first cruise ship of the season.Built in1992,this former coastal express from Greenland was designed to cope with icebergs and pack ice.In2006,she was converted for sea cruises.Her capacity was deliberately limited to76passengers.This small Ice Class B1 polar vessel has a38-strong crew, is72mlong and has a beam of 11m.Three other inaugural calls are scheduled forRouen:Silver Moon,VolendamandAzamara Pursuit.
Rouen’s CruiseTerminalis currently the site of a major, multiphase programme of works.The first stage involves the rerouting of water and electricity utilities.This will be followed, at the end of2022,by extensive quay consolidation work to be completed in2023.This will prepare the way for the installation of connection points for supplying electrical power to cruise ships at berth.The electrification work is expected to be completed in2025.
Viking River Cruisesbegins operating four new Seine cruise vessels
The river cruise sector is also seeing a dynamic upturn on the Seine Axis.In LeHavre,booked port calls have virtually doubled, rising from110stopovers in2019to219this year.This represents around7,500 passengersa year, with a customer base consisting essentially of German, British and American tourists.
The American lineViking Cruiseshas recently added four new river cruise vessels to its fleet,these having been specifically designed for Seine navigation.TheyareViking Fjorgyn, Viking Kari,VikingRadgridandVikingSkaga.Based inGrenelleport near the Paris regional management offices, the formalship naming ceremonywas conducted on 7 April in the presence of the vessels’ godmothers: Ghislaine Wood, KariGarmann, JanieDeutscherandMuriel Wilson.
InRouen,work has begun on the modernisation of the piersofBabindock in the Saint Gervais basinto the north of the Cruise Terminal.This area of the port currently has two berths mainly used for wintering river cruise ships.
The main objectives of the work now under way is most notably to improve the piers and /mooring conditions for increased capacity (from a maximum of 7 ships to 10).The aim is also to allow the piers to be used for barge convoys (carrying freight) outside the wintering periods.The new infrastructure will enable water and electricity to be supplied (a wintering version for river cruise vessels and possibly one supply point for barge convoys).The latter project should begin this summer for completion in2023.
