Philippines: ACTA Undertakes New Initiative to Draw More Ships to Asia

The Asia Cruise Terminal Association (ACTA) says the cruise market in the region is burgeoning rapidly and it will be embarking on several initiatives to position the industry to embrace this.

ACTA Members held their second meeting last week in Subic Bay, the Philippines, where they agreed to a number of initiatives to foster and drive cooperation among best-in-class service providers, to ensure a smooth passage for cruise lines and their passengers in and out of the respective ports.

Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC) is the first-elected chairman for ACTA, which will be officially launched in Singapore on Nov 14.

Building an infrastructure of neutral, maritime specialist service providers to support cruise ships, is one such initiative that the ACTA has agreed to undertake in a collective effort to draw more cruise lines to the region.

The ACTA chairman, who is also SCC’s chief executive officer, Christina Siaw said: “We operate in a thriving industry, which is rapidly growing.

“Cruise lines from around the world want to come to Asia, but need to be assured of the facilities and infrastructure available to support the cruise ships.

“They will only come if they can be confident of delivering a service up to their usual standards,” she said when disclosing the initiatives.

She said the broad intention is for each ACTA member to create an alliance, or partnership, with companies that provide services and products to cruise ships when they come to berth at their cruise terminal.

The services offered through the infrastructure will range from bunkering, to ships chandlers and repairs or maintenance services through to ground handlers.

Siaw said once a ready, neutral, maritime specialist cruise infrastructure is in place, then cruise lines that call at the homeport of ACTA member’s cruise terminals, will be able to tap seamlessly and efficiently into a one-stop-shop service while being assured of safety, quality and precision.

“Our value proposition as a region will come about through mutual desire and co-operation to raise standards in the local cruise industry to world-class levels, and to put Asia on a level-playing field with other major destinations in the world.

“Then, we will draw more cruise ships to this region, to satisfy passenger demand for more cruise products and itineraries,” she added.

(Bernama)