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I’ve covered the maritime industry passenger services. and only the “owned” ? eet and the com- proximately 45 vessels in the segment since 1992, your tenure extends even DFDS formed a cruise company in mercial management were retained and we describe as the expedition cruise further. When you look at the cruise Miami, Scandinavian World Cruises, moved into the existing company, Sun- market, which are fully ocean-going industry today, from your perspective which began operating in 1982. Unfor- Stone Ships, Miami. SOLAS approved vessels with a capac- please give a ‘State of the Market’. tunately the company was not very suc- SunStone Ships is a pure commer- ity between 50-250 passengers based on The cruise industry as we know it cessful, and as Director Finance in Co- cial manager with the responsibility of double occupancy. The ? eet was then today started in the late 1960’s with Knut penhagen, I was asked to go to Miami as buying, chartering and selling of the 11 very old, very fragmented with no large

Kloster and Ted Arison forming Norwe- President of the company, and to either ships in the ? eet. owners, operators or managers. gian Cruise Lines. Since then, there has turn it around or close it down. We man- In 2015 the owners of the SunStone The number of vessels have de- not been one year in the industry where aged to turn the company around and ? eet repurchased the technical manage- creased since a number of ships have the number of passengers have dropped. three years later it was sold. In 1988 I ment operation from Waterland and been scrapped; some have been replaced

Cruising has become a mass market founded International Shipping Partners formed the passengership management by the conversion of secondhand ves- vacation, an amazing value for money. as a passengership management compa- company, Cruise Management Interna- sels, themselves old ships, so the world-

Based on this I do not foresee any re- ny. tional (CMI), as well as the hotel man- wide ? eet today has an average age in duction in capacity or occupancy in the ISP grew from having one ship on agement company, changing the name excess of 25 years.

years to come. management, to becoming one of the to CMI Leisure (CMIL). The technical, The expedition market has expand- largest passenger ship managers in the hotel and commercial management com- ed drastically over the last ? ve years,

I understand that you have more than 1990’s with more than 20 ships. In 2004 panies were back in a group of associ- and quite a number of owners and op- four decades experience in this sector. the company changed strategy to con- ated companies, all operating out of the erators have ordered new tonnage which

How did it all start? centrate on the expedition market, not same facilities in Miami. will come into place from 2019 forward, I began my passenger ship career as only as technical managers, but also ho- with newbuildings being ordered from a trainee in a Danish passenger shipping tel managers, and to become involved in Looking at the industry since you Norway, Germany, Spain, Croatia and company, DFDS, Copenhagen which the acquisition of vessels for investors, started to today, how has it changed China.

was formed in 1866 mainly operating and take on the commercial management most? From a historic point of view, there ferries, but also had a few cruise opera- of the ships, being responsible for pur- The industry in which SunStone op- has never been so many newbuildings on tions. When I started in 1969, it was a chasing, chartering and selling the ? eet. erates is concentrated within the expedi- order for the expedition segment. How- quite large company with approximately In 2012 the technical and hotel man- tion market which has developed quite a ever, it is not expected that any more one hundred vessels, 52 subsidiaries agement segments of ISP were sold to a lot since the company acquired its ? rst secondhand vessels will be converted worldwide and operating both cargo and German private equity ? rm, Waterland, ship in 2004. At that time there were ap- into expedition ships, and the worldwide 3D renderings of the Greg Mortimer, the ? rst new building.

Image Courtesy: Sunstone Ships Inc.

34 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • FEBRUARY 2018

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