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Industry leaders head for Hamburg for high level talks on the cruise industry in Europe

The exhibition is complemented by a high level conference programme, where over 600 delegates have registered to hear from the leading cruise lines around the world who will share their expertise and take part in in-depth discussions on the industry.

HAMBURG – As the cruise community gathers in Hamburg for the opening of Seatrade Europe 2015 Bernd Aufderheide President and CEO, Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH, Chris Hayman Chairman, Seatrade UBM EMEA, Michael Ungerer President, CLIA Germany and Daniel Thiriet Vice President, IG RiverCruise discussed at a media briefing the key topics which will be covered during this year’s event, which takes place at Hamburg Messe und Congress from Wednesday 9 to Friday 11 September.

Mr Aufderheide was enthusiastic about the 8th edition of the event. “This year’s event will see over 250 exhibitors from more than 50 countries around the world showcasing innovations and exhibiting their products and services. We also have the supplier workshop where senior buyers from Meyer Werft, together with Meyer Turku Oy, and Neptun Werft will network with suppliers to the cruise lines. More than 90 suppliers from all over the world have registered for this workshop.” Seatrade Europe also continues to be the only event of its kind in the world which includes river cruising.

Michael Ungerer gave participants an update on the latest figures for the cruise industry in Germany, acknowledging that ‘the German cruise market in the past few years has been a success story’ and is now second in the world, just behind the US, with over 1.7 million Germans going on a cruise in 2014. The success also continues, with 6.4 billion Europeans booking a cruise in 2014, which represents about 34% of all cruise bookings worldwide’ he continued.

Mr Ungerer went on to talk about why cruising is such a popular holiday choice for Europeans. “Our success is based on a wide number of things. A wide range of destinations and target groups all covered by our products, including those who have not considered cruising before. Of course one of the most important factors is good value for money. Cruising is a lifestyle and the ships themselves are also becoming destinations in their own right.”

He also noted the challenges faced by the industry in making cruising ‘more sustainable’. “We have a lot of innovative ideas coming along making each ship better than the one before. Many of the CLIA member lines are supporting these political efforts with most using scrubbers for sulphur removal, but ports too have to do more for the environment with cruise ships spending 40% of their operating time in port.” There were also discussions on the scope for growth of the cruise industry, “we will continue to grow here in Europe and worldwide but can only grow in relation to the supply of the cruise lines with more ship.”

The exhibition is complemented by a high level conference programme, where over 600 delegates have registered to hear from the leading cruise lines around the world who will share their expertise and take part in in-depth discussions on the industry. Chris Hayman talked through an overview of the remaining conference sessions for the event detailing the heavy hitters set to have the discussions throughout the 2.5 day event. “We are looking at an industry showing great growth potential, and each year we try to focus on a cross section of issues for ocean and river cruising, as well as the opportunity and challenges for the industry going forward” Mr Hayman explained.

The State of the Industry opening conference session, took place yesterday and included a keynote address delivered by the current chairman of CLIA Europe, Pierfrancesco Vago. As an innovation this year’s moderator for the opening session was the International Journalist & Broadcaster Todd Benjamin.

The river cruise market is very distinct from ocean cruising in terms of the products available and also the technical difficulties involved. Daniel Thiriet discussed the river cruise trends and explained that “compared with ocean cruising, ship traffic on rivers is still reasonably small, but things are growing. The US source market has contributed to this growth.” Talking about the challenges with this sector he explained that they “do not have issues with the piracy but we have restricted infrastructure for the size of the ports”.

There were also discussions on the future price expectations for cruise holidays. “In the past two years the prices have risen, but that is partly linked with the fact that it is demand driven and there is not enough supply for the demand in the marked” explained Mr Ungerer.

Cruise ship design will also be covered during the Seatrade Europe conference, and Chris Hayman was asked his thoughts on what the expectations would be for the next few years, or are the ships of 5,000 plus guests the limit and he explained that “there is an irreversible trend towards big ships”. The operating challenges will be covered in the Design for the Future and The Regulatory Framework for Cruise Operators in European Waters conference sessions due to take place during Seatrade Europe.

Seatrade Cruise Awards 2015 winners announced
Liverpool (Destination of the Year), Passenger Terminal Amsterdam (Port of the Year), The Image Group (Supplier of the Year), AIDA Cruises and Becker-Marine Systems (Environmental Initiative Award), and Aloschi Bros – Pope’s Summer Residence & Vatican (Innovative Shorex of the Year Award) were all honoured last night (9 September) as winners in the ninth Seatrade Cruise Awards, principal sponsor Oracle Hospitality, presented at the CLIA Germany Annual Dinner on the occasion of Seatrade Europe 2015, held at Elb-Panorama.

Iain Dunderdale, cruise development manager of Cruise Highlands was announced as the winner of the Seatrade Outstanding Achievement Award, for his advocacy in promoting Scotland’s growing cruise business for more than 25 years.

Jochen Deerberg, the founder of Deerberg-Systems, which was sold earlier this year to Evac, was the worthy recipient of the Seatrade Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Cruising. On several occasions Mr Deerberg initiated and hosted conferences to raise waste management awareness and to exchange knowledge about best practices.

In addition Michael Ungerer, past president of AIDA Cruises, chairman of CLIA Deutschland and chief operations officer, shared services, Carnival Asia, received the coveted Seatrade Cruise Personality of the Year Award, sponsored by V.Ships Leisure.

Seatrade Cruise News editor, Mary Bond, said that Mr Ungerer was chosen from nominations received due to the significant role he has played in raising environmental stewardship, climate and environmental protection within his company and the wider cruise sector.I t is also fitting that just recently it was announced he is taking up a strategic position in the wider group, moving to Asia for a new chapter in his cruise career.

Upon receiving the award, Mr Ungerer said “I am extremely honoured to receive this award but it is not a one man show, and I would like to share it with my peers and colleagues, as without them this would not have been possible.”

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Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.

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