PRETORIA: South Africa’s ports are ramping up for a bumper cruise season with at least eight luxury cruise ships and over ten passenger vessels of varying sizes set to ferry international and domestic tourists to and from the country’s port cities‚ according to the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA).
The South African cruise season kicked off officially in October with a number of smaller vessels already having called at South Africa’s ports en route to and from travel hotspots in Africa‚ Europe‚ the Far East‚ the Mediterranean‚ South America and more.
However, the MSC Sinfonia — the largest and most popular cruise ship in the local cruise calendar — marked a highlight in the 2015/16 cruise calendar when she arrived in her home port of Durban in the early hours of Thursday. This was her first South African call this season.
Fresh from a €50m revamp‚ the already impressive vessel has been upgraded with new features and facilities‚ including lengthening by an extra 24 metres and the addition of around 200 extra balcony cabins with capacity for around 500 more passengers.
The upgrades called for close collaboration between TNPA and MSC to ensure that the longer vessel could be accommodated at South African ports.
TNPA’s port manager for the port of Durban Moshe Motlohi said: “The newly lengthened MSC Sinfonia will now be accommodated at the longer M berth in the Port of Durban.
“However, other cruise liners will continue to be served at Durban’s N Shed cruise ship facility‚ which has recently been upgraded through a joint initiative between TNPA and MSC. This has brought the terminal more in line with international standards and will cater for the growth of the local cruise tourism sector,” said Mr Motlohi.
N-Shed now boasts a number of new features for an improved passenger experience such as new signage‚ immigration and check-in desks‚ a new fast track lounge‚ new baggage scanners and conveyor belt‚ an air-conditioning system‚ extra seating‚ balustrades‚ turnstiles and sail shades‚ new ramps and a back-up generator and UPS in the event of load shedding.
