Cruise & Ferry Review - Autumn/Winter 2021

1 7 0 EUROPE: INTERV IEW “ Cruise guests can explore cities on excursions in groups, supervised by shipping companies” T he Port of HaminaKotka, the biggest universal port in Finland, is an important hub in the Baltic Sea region, offering regular connections to ports, among others, in Gothenburg, Sweden; Tallinn, Estonia; Lübeck and Hamburg, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Hull, UK; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Antwerp, Belgium. Like many ports, Port of HaminaKotka had all international cruise visits cancelled or postponed, but despite a challenging 18 months, the outlook for the second half of 2021 is looking much more promising. “This season, instead of international cruise ships, our port was visited three times by Gabriella from the domestic cruise company Viking Line’s fleet,” says Kimmo Naski, CEO of HaminaKotka. “In addition, we had one international cruise vessel calling this autumn and have been actively working with cruise companies and other stakeholders to secure and increase visits in future seasons.” The port has implemented various measures and protocols to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. It follows a detailed health and safety protocol, which was created in collaboration with the local health authority. “In accordance with the detailed health and safety protocol, cruise guests can explore cities on excursions in groups, supervised by shipping companies – in so-called bubbles – or explore cities independently following the instructions in the health and safety protocol,” says Naski. With the port having a complicated combination of new bookings and cancellations in the autumn, Naski is looking forward to future seasons with the number of confirmed visits expected to increase significantly. CFR The Port of HaminaKotka port was visited three times by Viking Line’s Gabriella A safe and bright future Kimmo Naski outlines to Richard Humphreys what the remainder of 2021 holds for the Port of HaminaKotka following a challenging 18 months Photo: Jarno Koivula