The Cruise Baltic network is very grateful and proud to have received the Baltic Sea Award at the Baltic Development Forum Summit in Vilnius in June. The award was sponsored by the Danish Industry Foundation.
“The exposure and attention we have experienced as a result of receiving this honour, together with the financial contribution, has enabled us to focus on one of the Baltic Sea region’s major challenges – the environmental issues facing the cruise industry”, – says Bo Larsen, Director of Cruise Baltic, explaining how the award-money enabled the organization to take active part in the international network.
“We are actively prioritizing the environment when working closely with our Cruise Baltic partners and dealing with all the cruise lines and industry contacts. We believe strongly that collaboration, co-operation and communication are the ways forward to facing the challenges of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea as well as problems at a global level. It is essential to use every opportunity to forge closer relationships with those cruise line decision makers that are present in the Baltic Sea Region.”
Among the initiatives which Cruise Baltic has implemented for the second half of 2010 in order to broaden the dialogue are the following:
- Robert Ashdown, Technical Director, European Cruise Council (ECC), was invited to the Cruise Baltic Steering Group meeting in October, where several key contacts from the cruise industry were also present. Robert Ashdown is an active partner, and presented facts and the ECC’s views on current challenges, not least the environmental ones: He said: “I more than appreciate the platform Cruise Baltic presents to the European Cruise Council, as it is essential we engage closely with them and other like minded associations so that, together, we can meet the environmental challenges we face, while continuing to grow the industry.”
One of the participants, Olga Titova from St. Petersburg Marine Façade and a Cruise Baltic partner commented: “Robert Ashdown’s presentation has given us an excellent opportunity to look at the whole scope of environmental challenges and forthcoming requirements in the Baltic. Such a detailed description of all the existing environmental challenges gives a clearer comprehension of what the industry, including the ports and destinations have to face and what kind of efforts and actions have to be put into force.” - The Baltic Sea region is a ‘hot topic’ when it comes to legislative regulation of the maritime industry and therefore it is extremely important that Cruise Baltic is present and proactive at all relevant cruise industry events. First of all, Director Bo Larsen addressed the Baltic Sea’s environmental challenge and concerns as a speaker at a Leadership forum organized by Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) the world largest cruise association of which Cruise Baltic is a member. Secondly, Cruise Baltic participated in the European Cruise Council’s conference in September 2010 in Brussels where EU politicians and legislators discussed the current environmental challenges and regulations of the maritime industry.
- Finally, Cruise Baltic is actively supporting the work of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) in several ways, e.g. by collecting waste information from all Cruise Baltic partner destinations to be used in reports and background information for addressing the issue.
BDF Contact Person: Katarina Tafvelin, ktn@bdforum.org