ruben.maritime

ROTTERDAM 05 January – Carnival Corp subsidiary Holland America Line is to reopen for business in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, 36 years after ending its trans-Atlantic operations. HAL’s new regional head office will be close to its old base at Wilhelminapier, near the city centre. The HAL Beheer branch office at Spijkenisse, which employs masters, officers and managers for the company, will be transferred to the head office; they will be joined by a marketing team. HAL allowed Rotterdam mayor Ivo Opstelten to break the news in his New Year speech; more details will emerge at a 28 February press briefing. Two years ago HAL chief executive Stein Kruse suggested the operator might boost its presence in Europe to attract more European passengers, and said Rotterdam was one of the locations being considered. Since then the Cruise Port Rotterdam marketing team, under MD Mai Elmar, have worked hard to persuade HAL to return home. Rotterdam’s cruise terminal was formerly HAL’s departure and arrivals hall for its trans-Atlantic sailings. Fittingly, the first HAL vessel to call at Rotterdam this year will be the 59,652-gt 1997-built, Rotterdam-registered Rotterdam on 23 June. The operator uses its Dutch heritage as a marketing tool, and will soon to able to add a Dutch regional office.

Etiquetas: cruise market, cruises, ports

This entry was posted on domingo, enero 07, 2007 at 7:25 a. m.. You can skip to the end and leave a response.