AIDA Cruises launched the first marketing campaign on the Chinese market on 9th August. From April 2017 the 69,203gt/2008 built AIDAbella (above) will make her maiden deployment in China all year round and, in close co-operation with Costa Asia, will be offering “Made in Germany” cruises from Shanghai as a new premium product for the booming Chinese market. The AIDAbella will be prepared for service in Asia during a refit in spring 2017. Without changing the essence of the successful AIDA brand, the ship and services will be orientated to the wishes and demands of Chinese guests. The ship will bid farewell to all her German fans with unique cruises to exotic dream destinations along the most splendid coastlines of Southeast Asia. From mid-December 2016 to the beginning of March 2017, the ship will depart from Bangkok on eight 14-day cruises through Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia.

American Cruise Lines floated out its latest vessel in July, the American Constellation, some nine weeks ahead of schedule. The ship has been designed and built in Salisbury on the Wicomico River, Maryland, and is now in the process of being fitted out in the lead-up to her official debut in early 2017. With capacity for 170 passengers, the American Constellation, ACL’s ninth vessel, will operate a ten night Grand New England itinerary sailing round-trip from Boston, Massachusetts. The ship has been built by Chesapeake Shipbuilding In May ACL’s previous new ship, the America, undertook her maiden voyage whilst ACL’s other fleet members consist of four paddle wheelers and three coastal cruisers.

Aqua Expeditions’ Aqua Amazon suffered a serious accident and sank 16th July. The mishap resulted in an explosion on board during a scheduled turnaround in Lima. No passengers were aboard but alas there were four confirmed fatalities amongst the five crew and two contractors initially missing after the incident. One person remained missing/unidentified. An investigation was launched with guests affected being relocated to other vessels. The Aqua Amazon was also used by Scenic Cruises on some itineraries. An additional eight crew members were recovering in hospital, three of which were in intensive care.

Celebrity Cruises will base the 121,878gt/2009 built Celebrity Equinox (above) year-round in the Caribbean from 2017, operating out of Miami. The Solstice Class vessel will offer 24 new sailings, alternating between the eastern and western Caribbean. There will also be a number of other special itineraries including an 11-night Signature Event sailing which features a two-night stay in New Orleans coinciding with the city’s famous jazz festival. The move means the Equinox will not sail in Europe during the summer of 2017 but the Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Silhouette, Celebrity Reflection and Celebrity Constellation will remain in the region. The ship will also not visit Australia as a result of the redeployment.

Elomatic Ltd. and Deltamarin Ltd. have signed a large scale triparty engineering contract with MV Werften in Germany for the design of a Global Class mega passenger ship. The contract was signed by all parties on 28th July and includes large parts of the basic and detailed design of the vessel. The contract is the largest in both company’s histories and in total represents 860 man-years. The contract value has not been disclosed. The 200,001gt Global Class mega passenger ship for Star Cruises will be the largest passenger ship ever built in Germany and one of the largest ever built worldwide. She will be over 340 metres long and 45 metres wide. The ship order is an important boost for the entire European high-end shipbuilding industry. The project will last almost 4 years and delivery to Star Cruises is scheduled for 2020. The scope of work for Elomatic and Deltamarin includes engineering for the basic and detail design phases in all engineering disciplines. Both companies will also assist the shipyard during the construction with technical site services. The companies, both based in Turku Finland, have extensive experience and know-how in the design of mega passenger ships.

Enderby Wharf on the River Thames has been given the go-ahead to become an international cruise terminal, with a 770-home development also going on the site. The campaign for a judicial review of the planning decision ended in defeat, after the High Court ruled in favour of Greenwich Council’s 2015 decision to grant permission for the scheme. Earlier this year an anonymous east Greenwich resident launched legal action against that decision, arguing that the council had not carried out adequate assessment into the pollution from the development. But after hearing evidence during the two-day hearing in July the Judge dismissed the claim. He said: “The redevelopment of Enderby Wharf to provide a terminal for cruise liners has been considered desirable by the defendant, by the Greater London Authority and by the Port of London Authority for some time. Further, this development will provide housing and will attract tourists and so help the local economy.” The QC representing Greenwich Council said that there was “very little opposition” to the Enderby Wharf development with no objections based on air quality when it was first considered by the planning board in 2012.

Houston really does have a problem as the disastrous re-entry into the cruise industry for the Port of Houston in 2008 has come to a final chapter with the port’s Commissioners voting to sell Bayport Cruise Terminal’s passenger gangway system. Reports state that the port essentially paid Princess Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line to homeport in Houston in 2012 as opposed to other ports. Princess offered a 27 cruise season 2013-2014 whilst NCL arrived in 2014 with an agreement totalling 75 calls over five years with an option for two more years. To start, Princess Cruises received $685,000 and NCL was reported to have received up to $6 million. The ships also received free use of the terminal in the deal, but the business could not be sustained and cruise calls ceased.

Hurtigruten’s 15,690gt/2002 built Finnmarken (above) sustained damage near Finnsnes, Norway overnight on 4th/5th August. The vessel had struck an unknown object during the night in low visibility due to fog. The ship arrived in Finnsnes reporting that she had suffered hull damage. The vessel cancelled her scheduled stop, but was allowed to proceed several hours later for Bergen. Rolls-Royce has signed a contract worth about £25 million with ship building company Kleven in Norway for design and ship equipment to Hurtigruten’s two new polar cruise vessels, with an option for two additional vessels. In addition to the ship design with a wave piercing bow, Rolls-Royce will supply an integrated package of technology and equipment, including the Rolls-Royce Unified Bridge. Hurtigruten is also reportedly up for grabs again with three bids having been placed. TDR, the British private equity firm which acquired Hurtigruten in autumn 2014, is said to be in talks with three potential buyers after receiving unsolicited offers. Since 2014, TDR has provided the capital to acquire and refurbish the Spitsbergen. In addition, the company has refurbished four existing ships and has ordered the aforementioned newbuilds.

P&O Australia’s 55,877gt/1993 built Pacific Eden embarked on her maiden cruise from Singapore on the weekend of 30th/31st July. During a month long deployment in the region the ship offered four roundtrip seven-night cruises, calling at locations in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. The vessel’s final cruise from Singapore was a 14-night sailing to Cairns, where the ship homeported for two months. The 70,285gt/1991 built and Brisbane-based Pacific Dawn will be refurbished in February 2017, emerging from drydock with a stylish new look and a host of new features never before seen on a Queensland-based ship including a waterpark with two waterslides and an interactive kids-only play area. The refit comes as P&O prepares for its biggest year of Queensland cruising, with two ships sailing from Brisbane year round. Between them, Pacific Dawn and 55,877gt/1994 built Pacific Aria will offer a record 108 cruise departures in 2017, up from 98 cruises this year. Several of the Pacific Dawn’s public spaces will be redesigned to mirror the striking contemporary look which has become a trademark of the P&O fleet including the atrium, Charlie’s, The Orient and the Promenade Bar, which will be styled with similar décor to sister ships Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden. The Dome nightclub will be completely revamped and will offer more live music than ever before, as well as a sophisticated new design. The Orient will take on a new summer pub vibe and the Promenade Bar will be transformed into the perfect venue to enjoy a delicious cocktail with friends while listening to live music.

Ponant Cruises has confirmed that the cause of the fire on the 10,944gt/2010 built Le Boreal in November 2015 was caused by human error during the replacement of a fuel filter. The blaze broke out shortly after midnight, and while an automatic misting system was triggered, it unfortunately failed to prevent the fire spreading along some bunched cables. Le Boreal lost propulsion power, and while fire fighting teams contained the blaze at 0430, the engines were unable to be restarted. The French Marine Casualties Investigation Report found an officer had accidentally unscrewed a filter cover which was under pressure, causing fuel to splatter and ignite. No passengers were injured in the incident, with those on board transferred to the nearby L’Austral and repatriated from Port Stanley. In mid-August Norwegian shipbuilder Vard confirmed the order for four 10,000gt, 180 passenger capacity and 131m long expeditionstyle cruise ships for Ponant. This follows on from a Letter of Intent announced in March. The new vessels will be developed by Vard, Ponant, and Vard’s parent company, Fincantieri. The hulls will be built at Vard Tulcea in Romania, with delivery scheduled from Vard Søviknes in Norway in the period of summer 2018 to summer 2019.

Princess Cruises’ 112,894gt/2004 built Caribbean Princess experienced engine failure in the Irish Sea on the morning of 3rd August at around 0730 whilst en-route to Dublin. The loss of propulsion lasted for approximately 9 hours and the ship was 25 nautical miles southeast of Dublin. The ship had electrical power and all ship/hotel services were functioning. The Dublin call was cancelled and a tug and helicopter went to the ship from Anglesey, the latter carrying additional resources to assist in making repairs on board. The Caribbean Princess proceeded to her next call of Belfast having departed Southampton on 31st July with a 12-day British Isles itinerary.

Pullmantur Cruises will employ the 47,427gt/1990 built Horizon on a Canary Islands cruise programme, embarking passengers in the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife this winter. The week-long itinerary has 16 scheduled departures, starting on 26th November visiting Santa Cruz de Tenerife, La Palma, Agadir, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. On 7th July the company’s 73,937gt/1991 built Monarch made her inaugural call at St. Petersburg.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Explorer (above), was named on 14th July. The Godmother, Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene of Monaco, cut a red velvet ribbon which sent champagne smashing against the new ship’s hull to officially christen the newest member of the Regent fleet at an event in Monaco. The event was followed by a 40-minute private performance from musical maestro Andrea Bocelli.

Sanya International Cruise Development Co. Ltd., a joint venture by COSCO Shipping, China National Travel Service (HK) Group Corp and China Communications Construction Co Ltd., reportedly plans to buy between five and eight cruise ships. The news reports also indicate that the company will build four cruise ship berths in Sanya, a Chinese resort city on the southern island province of Hainan. The ships will travel to the Crescent group of islands, part of the Paracels. It is not clear if foreigners will be allowed on these cruises or if they will be allowed to visit China’s holdings in the South China Sea. Parts of the South China Sea are subject to territorial claims by China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. Countries competing over claims have encouraged a growing civilian presence on disputed islands in the South China Sea. The first cruises from China to the Paracel islands were launched by Hainan Strait Shipping Co. in 2013 so the motives behind this latest announcement remain to be seen.