Port News

«Marine Fa?ade» summarizes the 2014 navigation season

During the navigation period of 2014 Passenger port Saint Petersburg has received 234 cruise and 5 ferry vessels that brought a total of 483 456 passengers to St. Petersburg. The 2014 cruise season has started on April 26th when the “Discovery” vessel of Global Cruises Limited has made a call to the Port. This cruise vessel call was remarkable as it was the earliest one to be made in the entire operation of “Marine façade”. The 2014 navigation was concluded by the «Marco Polo» vessel of Global Cruises Limited that made her call to the Port on October 21st. For the purpose of extending the cruise season, vessels that made their calls to St. Petersburg during the “low season” of 2014 navigation (January 15th to April 30th and October 1st to December 25th) were for the first time offered a 50% discount on the services of PLC “Passenger Port of Saint Petersburg “Marine façade” as well as on the port dues collected by FGUP “Rosmorport” and FGBU “Baltic Sea ports administration”.

8 vessels have made their first ever calls to the Passenger port Saint Petersburg in 2014. Among them was the «Asuka II» vessel whose visit to St. Petersburg was part of her world cruise. Noteworthy are the 11 calls made by the “Royal Princess” vessel – the largest vessel to have been received at the Port so far. This latest 330-meter vessel of Carnival Corporation brought over 4000 passengers to the Port in one call. Throughout the 2014 navigation more than 40 000 people have visited St. Petersburg aboard the “Royal Princess”, and over a thousand Russian citizens have started their cruise trip in St. Petersburg on this vessel. In general, St. Petersburg was a cruise starting point for 8093 passengers in 2014. In the course of the year 4 times the berths of Passenger port were full, having 7 vessels at once: June 25th to 26th, July 1st and August 7th. On the 1st of July the Port has welcomed 14 204 passengers, which was a record for the year. Passenger port Saint Petersburg has received 1423 vessel calls during the six years since the beginning of its operation, resulting in the total passenger flow of 2 559 914 people. The Port expects to receive its three millionth passenger in 2015. To date, citizens of 172 countries have arrived to St. Petersburg through the Passenger port. The majority of cruise tourists that have arrived to the Port are from Germany – 25%, then the US – 18%, the UK – 15%, Italy and Spain – 6% each, and France – 3%.

Cruise lines, tour operators and tourists show an increasing interest in St. Petersburg that is rightfully considered the pearl of the Baltic Sea. Passenger port Saint Petersburg has for the first time received vessels of companies like Island Cruises Transportes and NYK Cruises in 2014. During the Port’s operation some of the major cruise lines - Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) – were the source of 823 vessel calls (58% of the total amount) and 1 940 516 passengers (76% of the total amount).

In 2014 PLC “Passenger Port of Saint Petersburg “Marine façade” has increased its revenue by 2.3%, further increase is expected in 2015. The EBIDTA measure (earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization) has also grown by 2% in 2014, and is expected to grow by 12% in 2015 compared to the current level. The infrastructure of Passenger port Saint Petersburg matches all current international and Russian requirements to port infrastructure and allows for the provision of high quality services to passengers and vessels. However, improvements in technical specifications, energy savings figures, transport and environmental safety take place annually. Thus, to prevent erosion the water area floor was reinforced with gabions, water flow metering system and electric lighting system were upgraded lowering the energy consumption by 1.5 times. The transport safety and passenger navigation systems are being improved.

According to the decision of the Board of directors (Board of directors session minutes of 27.03.2014 №1/14) in 2014 Passenger port Saint Petersburg has developed and commenced the implementation of an action plan designed to change the Port checkpoint classification from “Passenger” to “ Cargo-passenger”. This alteration will allow for regular ferry vessel calls to the Port. The classification change is expected to coincide with the opening of the Western High-speed Diameter’s central section, which will reduce the load on the Vasilyevskiy island road network.

Passenger port Saint Petersburg takes part in organization of business, cultural and social events on a regular basis. In June the “Safe childhood” event dedicated to the Children’s Day took place on the territory of the Port. In 2014 the Port has hosted the “Maritime pilots of Russia in service of the fatherland” exhibition. As part of the educational program for students of higher education institutions the Port has welcomed students from other cities of Russia. For three years already the Port organizes a sports competition called “The Nautical Mile”. This year it took place at the end of September, with the support of the St. Petersburg Committee on Physical Culture and Sport and the administration of Vasileostrovskiy district of St. Petersburg. In October Passenger port has welcomed the regular meeting of the Famous Champions club that was attended by Russian Olympic champions and famous athlete. In November 2014 the Port has participated in organizing a conference – “Cruise tourism development: focus on St. Petersburg”.

2014 was marked by the participation of Port representatives in exhibitions. Passenger port Saint Petersburg was represented on the international forum “Safety in Transport” and international exhibition “TRANSTECH-2014”. Passenger port regularly participates in events to promote St. Petersburg abroad as a cruise and ferry center. In March 2014 Passenger port representatives together with the St. Petersburg Committee on Tourism Development representatives and with the support of cruise market professionals participated in the international cruise exhibition Cruise Shipping Miami, and in September attended the Seatrade MED exhibition in Barcelona by invitation of the city authorities.

Also in 2014 regular meetings of Baltic Sea cruise ports’ representatives were held. Initiated by the Passenger port Saint Petersburg in 2013, the group that includes port representatives from Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kiel, Riga, Rostock, St. Petersburg, Stockholm and Tallinn is now an important instrument of regional cooperation and integration. At the meeting in Tallinn in early November the decision was made to join efforts in promoting the Baltic Sea ports on international cruise market to extend the cruise season in the region. The next meeting will be held in 2015. The amount of passengers arriving to the Port is expected to grow by 3% in 2015. Among the new cruise industry trends is the growth of cruise vessels’ passenger capacity, as new vessels are built. During the next year Passenger port is planning to receive 9 new vessels, including the newest “Regal Princess” and “Britannia” of Carnival Corporation that are 330 meters in length. Also, on June 9th Passenger port Saint Petersburg is expecting a call of the new cruise liner “Mein Schiff 4” of TUI Cruises company, that will arrive to St. Petersburg just 4 days after launching. The new “Viking Star” vessel of Viking Cruises company will make a call to the Passenger port Saint Petersburg within a month after being launched as part of its cruise around the Baltic and the North seas. The experience of the last several years shows that larger and more modern vessels tend to visit St. Petersburg, which means that an increase in passenger flow can be expected over the next years.