The last few months have seen our very successful summer meeting take place in Portland Port aboard Regal Princess, together with a convivial pre-meeting evening gathering in Weymouth. New members have joined the CB family – welcome to Aberdeen Harbour, Harland & Wolff and, just last week, Peel Ports.

Interim Chair Ian McQuade, Portland Port, is confirmed as Chair until the end of the current term (December 2024) and the Steering Group is back to full strength with the appointment of Paul Britton, Harbour Master & CEO, Dartmouth, who brings extensive cruise line experience and knowledge of boutique tender port operations to the group. In addition, Thea George, Senior Cruise Manager ABP Southampton, will caretake Rebekah Keeler’s position on the Steering Group whilst Rebekah takes maternity leave.

CLIA’s first-ever Parliamentary Reception was held on 22 Feb with CB supporting the value of cruise message with UK port information illustrating economic benefit and how cruise is uniquely placed to increase tourism to many different destinations. The Cruise Review reception held on 27^th April launched the passenger and cruise sentiment data.

May and June saw two ship visits for local politicians attended by CB (Celebrity Apex, Liverpool and FOCL’s Borealis in Rosyth).

The output report from the annual study commissioned by CB is available in the members section of the website. The topline figures are in the press release here.

The story was covered by all major industry outlets who focussed on the projected 8% increase over 2019 call figures to predict a new record year.

Tourism Economics have published information on the cruise market as below. Both require you to register details in order to get the downloads.

• Latest cruise trends and forecasts as well as illustrating capacity, deployment and pricing challenges Webinar and slides
• Cruise outlook: supply and demand Report

• Press releases – please include CB on distribution lists so that we can support and amplify your messages. Either office@cruisebritain.org or kay@cruisebritain.org
• Social media – please tag or link CB so that we can amplify your messages and also grow CB’s profile.
• Update your web page on the CB website – updates have to be done centrally so take a moment to look at your page and feed through any changes, especially in good time for Seatrade Europe. Find site here

Seatrade Europe (6^th– 8^th September) is in the final planning. The stand is now full, the layout is finalised and graphics are going into production. It’ll be wagons roll for Hamburg right at the beginning of September.

Seatrade Cruise Global is returning to Miami 8^th – 11^th April 2024 and booking forms for exhibiting in the Cruise Britain pavilion will be sent out shortly.

Diaries at the ready! If you haven’t already, please make a note of our flagship event taking place in London (venues have been booked – the die is cast).

A call for sponsorship will come out soon (thank you to those who have already stepped forward) but do get in touch if you’d like to get ahead of things.

A Shore Power Working Group has been formed as an off-shoot to the Department for Transport bi-annual cross-government cruise forum. There is acknowledgement by government that all port situations are different and a willingness to listen to the asks. The clear and over-riding point made at every meeting is, of course, funding. Co-ordinated by CLIA, the BPA and the Chamber of Shipping and Cruise Britain have met to consider how best to work together for the benefit of all.

The fourth round of the clean maritime demonstration competition has just been announced with £34m to support innovation in decarbonising shipping.

A summary of the challenges to shore power can be found on the members section of the website.

CB has been working with multiple stakeholders to clarify the impact of the recent announcement that ships calling at more than 11 (inital port plus 10) consecutive UK ports within a 60-day period will require crew visas. Information has now been received that confirms that sailing outside territorial waters effectively resets the clock.

CB continues to attend the maritime and rail industry UKBF engagement group to raise relevant issues and understand future priorities so please continue to feed through comment or concerns.

The introduction of the UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) is proceeding and the cost is confirmed at £10pp. An ETA is permission to travel to the UK for all nationals (apart from British and Irish) who do not currently hold or require a visa; it does not replace Border checks but gives the green light for a person to travel to the UK.

Cruise passengers must have an ETA before departing for the UK (from last port of call or embarkation depending on itinerary) and it is the operators’ responsibility to check and supply through the National Maritime Single Window. Pax not disembarking in UK will still require an ETA as considered in transit. If sailing UK-UK completely within the Common Travel Area then an ETA is not required for the cruise.

Seafarers joining a vessel in the UK will require an ETA; others can continue on seafarers documents. The ambition is that eventually all seafarers will require an ETA but this is not being rolled out at present and no further information is available.

The EES will require pre-submitted passport information plus biometric information (which cannot be pre-submitted) for all non-EU nationals. It has been delayed a number of times already and an announcement on a future implementation date is expected soon.

This Act is now law but does not apply to cruise. Seafarers considered within scope must be paid the equivalent of the national minimum wage whilst in UK territorial waters. The shipping services in scope are vessels carrying passengers or cargo that call more than 120 times a year (i.e. every three days) in a UK port.

Unscrupulous car parking companies trying to work with ports to access the cruise market.
Extinction Rebellion plans that ports will be targeted over the summer

• Ambassador Cruise Line launch of Ambition, Port of Tyne
• Border Force Maritime Engagement
• Bristol Port Annual Bath Event
• British Ports Association Annual Lunch
• British Tourism Industry Group
• CLIA Cruise Review
• CLIA Media Drinks
• CLIA Parliamentary Reception
• Cruise Britain summer meeting
• Cruise Europe conference
• Cruise Shore Power Working Group
• Department for Transport cross-government industry forum
• English Tourism Week Parliamentary Reception
• FCDO trade engagement
• FOCL political visit to Borealis, Rosyth
• Global Port Associations network
• Project Compass: careers in cruise for diverse young people
• RCL political visit to Celebrity Apex, Liverpool
• VisitBritain and VisitEngland Annual Review