5 June 2017
Port terminal operators SCH and sister company Cruise and Passenger Services (CPS) have completed a record weekend of cruise operations in Southampton with involvement in 13 operations over three days.
Stevedores SCH and valet cruise parking specialists CPS, supported by their in-house staff agency Pathfinder Personnel, had more 600 staff deployments over the period as they conducted operations involving tens of thousands of passengers.
SCH were involved in mooring, baggage handling and stores loading on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises and Celebrity Cruises ships over the three days, while CPS carried out a range of reception, marshalling and car parking work during calls by P&O, Princess Cruises and Cunard ships.
Two days out of three saw SCH working three ships simultaneously, while the other day saw CPS conducting a similar operation.
Biggest operations were on the Royal Caribbean ships, Navigator of the Seas and Independence of the Seas, where SCH handled the disembark and embark of some 15,000 passengers, with the ships then subsequently sailing for Scandinavia and the Mediterranean respectively. There were also two calls by the smaller Silversea Cruise ships Silver Explorer and Silver Whisper.
SCH Cruise Operations Manager Glen Gardner explained: “Through SCH and CPS, we supported the handling of 13 of the 18 cruise ship calls in Southampton over the three-day period. It was a record volume for us and demonstrated the growth in our cruise ship activity besides showing the versatility of the group in providing different types of cruise ship support.”
Both SCH and CPS are part of the Independent Port Handling group . Following the departure of Silversea Cruises’ luxury Silver Explorer from Southampton on Saturday, she sailed for Portsmouth where another company in the IPH group, Southern Maritime Services (SMS), handled the embark of passengers. Subsequent operations in IPH’s network of other ports during the following few days will see Silver Whisper handled in Liverpool and CPS operating in the Scottish port of Oban servicing passengers on the Noble Caledonia Cruises’ vessel Serenissima.