Constanta port hosts Medcruise meeting to promote Black Sea cruise industry

Constanta, Romania (Ports Europe) February 24, 2019 - National Company Maritime Ports Administration S.A. Constanta has hosted the February 22, 2018, meeting of the MedCruise Working Group on Black Sea. The event was attended by representatives of the management of the ports of Varna and Burgas (Bulgaria), Odessa (Ukraine), Istanbul (Turkey), and the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA). Jordi Caballé, Secretary General of MedCruise, also took part in the meeting. The Medcruise Working Group on Black Sea was set up in October 2018 to determine the steps necessary to ensure the return of cruise ships to Black Sea ports, which have been absent due to the geopolitical issues in the region, including the Russian supported occupation of Ukrainian Donbas region in 2014 and the Crimean Peninsula annexation from Ukraine by Russia in February–March 2014. The building by Russia's of a bridge over the Kerch Strait (that connects Black and Azov seas) and the November 2018 blockade of Ukraine's Azov Sea ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol by Russia have added to regional instability. There are indications now of the return of cruise ship companies to the region. For 2019, Aegean cruise lines included the port of Constanta on the list of calls for the cruise ship Aegean Odyssey, and for 2020 and 2021, the company Azamara Club Cruises has already locked the berth for the cruise ship Azamara Journey, after an absence of several years in the region. Up to now, for the 2019 cruise season, 21 cruise ships have been already announced in the port of Constanta, the first one, a river cruise ship, arriving on March 24. The Greek company Aegean Experience Maritime Co Ltd and the German Phoenix Reisen company will both send cruise ships to Odessa port this year. Igor Tkachuk, part of the Odessa arm of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA), said that Ukraine already has nine applications for ship calls in 2020, three in the 2021 and one in 2022. Crystal Cruises is preparing a cruise to Burgas with its Crystal Symphony ship in 2021. Negotiations with other companies are also carried out, port director, Diyan Dimov, said in August 2018. Russia is also taking steps to increase cruise ship presence in the Black Sea. Black Sea Cruises and Rosmorport have announced that their seasonal 2020 cruise program with the Prince Vladimir vessel will call at Sukhum in the Georgian breakaway republic of Abkhazia. The 1971-built ship will call in Sukhumi (Sokhumi) once a month in 2020. The company will maintain week-long sailings calling in the Russain Black Sea ports of Sochi, Novorossiysk, Yalta and Sevastopol. Abkhazia, with the military support of Russia, fought and won a war of secession with Georgia in 1992-93 and formally declared independence in 1999. After the Georgian-Russian war in 2008, Moscow recognized the region as an independent state. Georgia (and the international community) responded by declaring Abkhazia "occupied" by Russia. Copyright (C) Ports Europe. All Rights Reserved. 2019.

Constanta port hosts Medcruise meeting to promote Black Sea cruise industry

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Constanta port hosts Medcruise meeting to promote Black Sea cruise industry

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