Costa and The Great Venetian Escape

Genoa - The Great Venetian Escape was on the cards. One could blame it on the delays to – or lack of – solutions to the problem of “Big Ships” in San Marco with the cruise companies forced to self-regulate: failing that, however, the plan provided for limitations to their very operations. Costa Cruises has thus decided to have a clean break by reducing its ships capacity in passengers’ numbers visiting Venice, by 50%. In the new 2015/2016 season calendar, in fact, the company halved its presence not so much in the number of vessels, as in actual capacity; instead of Costa Fascinosa and Magic (units with 1500 and 1360 cabins respectively), next season will arrive in San Marco Costa Deliziosa and Neo Classical (1100 and 650 cabins).

This means that Costa has planned to reposition its focus on Western Mediterranean and Northern Europe, but also to keep favouring Trieste, igniting local competition in the Adriatic. This port [Trieste] will be, in fact, the departure point for the inaugural voyage of its Mediterranean flagship, Diadema, which will continue cruising the Med next season too. Costa is also counting heavily on the Western Mediterranean and Savona will often be “full” of Costa ships that will be able to benefit from the port’s doubled infrastructure. The new terminal will be fully operational by this summer and it will be able to accommodate four ships at the same time since this is an eventuality that is likely to occur often in the next season. If traffic is greater, as a result of the rotation of the ships, some vessels might also end up in Genoa, if they fail to find space in their real “home port”. The number of port calls in Savona, however, will not change (240 just like last season), but Diadema, the new flagship, along with other units of higher capacity will increase passenger numbers by 10 to15%, according to experts’ estimates. Genoa however, has not succeeded, for the moment, in winning Costa over, even though this is where the company is going to hold the christening of Diadema on November 7; the management of the company’s homecoming will be handled by Stazioni Marittime, as predicted by Secolo XIX. Spezia is the other port that stands to gain from the redeployment of the fleet: from 42 calls in 2014, the port will go to 56 in 2015, with an increase in the number of passengers as well. In fact, Costa has not just redeployed its fleet in the Mediterranean; it will return to Northern Europe and Iceland, it has added a new cruise around the world, the Indian Ocean will see the Genoese company’s ships once more and there will be a new offering in the circumnavigation of Africa.

But the most important market for Costa is certainly China. Carnival announced that the Costa Serena will be located in China throughout 2015, bringing to four the number of ships present in the country that enjoys the highest growth rate ever in the cruise industry. “The placement of the Costa Serena will strengthen Carnival’s leadership in China, taking advantage of the surge in demand, which, according to forecasts, will make the Chinese market the second largest in the world by 2017,” says the giant Costa cruises, Carnival’s subsidiary. Costa Serena’s Shanghai debut is scheduled for April 2015; she will join the Victoria and the Atlantic, already positioned in China. In so doing, the total capacity of the company in Asia will grow by 74%. In addition to cruises, Costa is still managing the salvage operation of the Concordia and yesterday, in Florence, the company introduced a new timetable, shifting the deadline for the mounting of the sponsons (one every two days, until completion) and the possible re-floating of the wreck, initially scheduled for June, to 18-20 July. The Observatory monitoring the operation also requested and obtained from Costa Concordia representatives, a full inspection - with the use of robots for detailed observation - of the ship’s fuel tanks and an accurate assessment before continuing with the intervention so as to ensure things are sound and there will be no spillage of hydrocarbon residues when towing the wreck.