European Market essential to destination
On Tuesday St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Mingo gave an update to the management of MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) Cruises at their headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, about cruise destination developments.
Mingo met with the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the company Gianni Onorato. Onorato has 30-years’ experience in the cruise industry, and has a thorough understanding of the cruise business and extensive experience in senior executive leadership, serving as President of Costa Crociere for over nine years. The meeting also included Operations Director Gianluca Suprani. Pierfrancesco Vago became Executive Chairman of the Board.
MSC Cruises is the market leading Cruise Company in the Mediterranean, South Africa and Brazil, and operates across the globe.
Mingo stated on Wednesday that European cruise lines are very important for the destination. MSC alone is expected to bring in over 126,000 cruise passengers to the island in 2014.
The topics that were discussed with MSC management was year-round service; challenges experienced by smaller cruise lines such as NCL, MSC and Disney Cruises; status of the global port committee; onshore developments such as shore excursions and marques tours in order to enhance customer experiences; new approach of passenger logistics from upgrade of water taxis from 80 passengers to 200 passengers; enhancement of the Sea Palace tender jetty; and a study to improve roadside access to the port.
For the cruise line MSC customers, shopping was still considered to be a strong sell for St. Maarten.
Currently MSC has two ships plying the Caribbean, namely the MSC Musica home-porting in Martinique and MSC Divina whose homeport is in Miami, Florida.
"It is important that we have the MSC Divina visiting the destination in the off season, because this brings economic activity to our community and businesses. It was a great opportunity to discuss strategies with MSC Cruises. I also discussed berthing space because the cruise line plans for the long-term. MSC is a unique company because its family owned and it has grown to become a cruise player overnight.
"MSC also has a cargo division and is also one of the largest cargo lines in the world. At the end of 2013 MSC Cargo was operating 443 container vessels with an intake capacity of over 2.2 million TEU’s. The privately owned shipping line was founded in 1970 and has grown rapidly from a small conventional operator to become one of the leading global shipping lines in the world having the position of the second largest carrier in respect to container slot capacity and the number of container vessels in operation.
"We have to maintain a good working relationship with the cruise lines as they are our partners in this business. It is very important to keep them informed of what we as a port are doing and how we are developing because we have to retain the business that we have been able to attain over the years," CEO of the St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies Mark Mingo said on Wednesday.
The Port of St. Maarten is ranked one of the highest in growth in cruise passengers as well as cruise passenger expenditure levels. In 2013 the Port of St. Maarten received 1,785.670 cruise passengers, 32,455 passengers more than in 2012. Cruise passengers arrived on 631 vessel calls for 2013.
PHOTO CUTLINE: Left to right, CEO Mark Mingo and MSC CEO Gianni Onorato.