Initially and starting next year it will be supplied by truck. Additionally, Tenerife has defined a fully transparent berth request procedure, responding to demands defined by numerous cruise line executives.
Airam Díaz, commercial director of Ports of Tenerife, used the opening of the Seatrade Cruise Med convention to share this news and also that the Canary Islands are increasingly targeting the US market.
Out of a total of 5.18m tourists visiting Tenerife last year, very few hailed from the US. On the cruise side, of just under 1m passnegrs, only 90,000 were US citizens.
The island aims to increase this share as a promising source market, Díaz said. Although this initiative—which includes dedicated marketing approaches through US-based representatives—is not limited to the cruise business, it may help increase the presence of US operators in the Canary Islands.
Tuesday night Ports de Tenerife showcased its impressive new single storey cruise terminal to the industry during the Seatrade Cruise Med welcome reception and gala dinner.
Díaz's announcement to provide LNG was complemented by Costa Group's ceo Michael Thamm whose company is pioneering LNG as a power source for cruise ships. 'There is a lot Germany can learn from Spain,' Thamm said with respect to the flexibility shown in Santa Cruz and the rather complicated authorisation procedures in Hamburg.
AIDA is due to step up its presence in the Canary Islands from 2017 and Thamm said the close location of the archipelago's destinations with short distances and time at sea would reduce any LNG bunkering frequency requirements quite dramatically.
However, the availability of LNG will be essential for base ports wanting to handle AIDA's upcoming LNG-powered Helios-class vessels from 2019.
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