Operator will also continue to handle calls for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. brands at UK port
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Port terminal operators SCH is to provide stevedoring and other ship support services for Silversea Cruises’ ships at the port of Southampton in the UK.
SCH will provide baggage, storing and mooring services for Silver Whisper, Silver Explorer, Silver Muse and Silver Wind, which will collectively make 11 calls in Southampton this year.
“Silversea Cruises is a prestigious addition to the fleet of ships that we handle in Southampton,” said Glen Gardner, cruise operation manager at SCH. “By tailoring our services to the individual requirements of our cruise customers, we are growing our market share of cruise business in the port, both in stevedoring and valet car parking.”
SCH is set for one of its busiest ever cruise ship season at Southampton, expecting to handle around 100 ship calls from Silversea, Saga Cruises and ships in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s brands.
For the third successive year, SCH will provide port handling services for Royal Caribbean International’s Independence of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas, which will be based in Southampton from April to October. Ship operations will mean turnarounds of some 8,000 passengers, with SCH providing mooring, baggage and stores handling.
In addition, SCH will handle nearly 20 turnaround calls for sister brands Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises, along with day calls by TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff vessels.
“We are committed to emulating the excellent performance we produced in 2016 to ensure that Royal Caribbean passengers enjoy a smooth, seamless turnaround,” said Gardner. With so many passengers, the calls by Independence of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas are major operations, but we now have well established patterns at the port’s City Cruise Terminal that deliver the high levels of service passengers expect.”