By
Alex Smith |
Maritime services specialist Columbia Group has combined its various business lines and brands under one holding entity, COLUMBIA blue, with the aim of delivering a seamless service offering in the leisure, lifestyle, cruise, ferries, yacht, hospitality and private aviation sectors.
Though the existing specialist cruise brands, such as COLUMBIA cruise services (technical and marine management) and COLUMBIA signature (hospitality and hotel operations), will continue to develop their offerings, COLUMBIA blue was created to achieve more synergy across the group. The company aims to deliver more efficient operations and expand its range of solutions, the latest of which is a residential cruise vessel product.
“By taking a more fluid and flexible business approach across all COLUMBIA blue brands, we will be facilitating the exchange of new ideas and cross-company opportunities in the maritime leisure sphere,” explains Julia Siebert, managing director of COLUMBIA cruise services (CCS). “We are expecting that new synergies will develop between our teams, enabling our business lines to expand rapidly.”
The increasing variety of services offered to passengers, combined with a need for operators to deploy the latest technology in a sustainable way, requires the same amount of flexibility and specialisation from technical management companies as it does in hospitality. To serve its evolving and specialised fleet, CCS has introduced a matrix-based work approach with a subject-matter expert level. This means that while dedicated vessel managers are responsible for overseeing the overall seamless ship operations, experts are available to provide support in areas such as energy efficiency, HVAC or hotel engineering.
COLUMBIA cruise services provides expert teams that can help passenger ship operators with the technical management of their vessels
While COLUMBIA blue is providing highly specialised services to the leisure industry, the economies of scale offered to clients by the wider Columbia Group provides operational efficiency on a global level and makes its offering more competitive for clients. CCS’s network of worldwide in-house crewing agencies and partners, training facilities, and procurement and logistics partners are also being reviewed and developed. Reliable bunker prices and supplies are another area where all the company’s clients can reduce costs by pooling prices.
“Our clients further benefit from the group-wide environment, governance and sustainability ambitions that they can participate in, to the desired level,” says Hendrik Stellamanns, managing director of CCS. “Sustainability and renewable energy always come at a cost, and we are specialised in navigating our clients through this challenging landscape. Five-year plans for our fleet are a key element to ensure the appropriate level of renewal and innovation. The Columbia Group also offers a holistic solution to the newly implemented European Union Emissions Trading System regulations to all clients.”
The vessels under CCS management are continually monitored for performance and efficiency by the team in Columbia’s performance optimisation room at its headquarters in Limassol, Cyprus. This information allows the ship’s crew to optimise their fuel consumption, while weather, wind and current models allow them to make adjustments to take advantage of optimal sailing conditions.
“Monitoring our clients’ ships and their performance closely is an important factor in enabling us to meet International Maritime Organization targets on greenhouse gas emissions,” concludes Stellamanns.
This article was first published in the Spring/Summer 2024 issue of Cruise & Ferry Review. All information was correct at the time of printing but may since have changed. Subscribe for FREE to get the next issue delivered directly to your inbox.