The Black Sea ports efforts to revive the cruise shipping
The history of cruise shipping in one of the most touristic cities on the Black Sea coast – Odesa – is quite complicated, full of various challenges, but very fascinating.
As is known, until 2014, there was a systematic annual increase in the number of cruise ship calls to the ports of the Black Sea region and the port of Odesa in particular, reaching a record number of 106 cruise ship calls in 2013. It is worth noting that the Passenger Terminal of the Odesa port was capable of accommodating up to 5 cruise ships simultaneously, and the port facilities allow to accommodate vessels up to 330 meters long and up to 3,500 passengers on board.
However, starting from 2014, due to the reasons related to political instability, the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, and security concerns in Istanbul, the cruise industry in the Black Sea region experienced a sharp decline, as evidenced by the negative dynamics in the number of cruise ship calls. By 2018, this number had reached zero, and instead of the Black Sea region, which was popular among cruise tourists, white liners began to favor the ports of the Western and Eastern Mediterranean, as well as the Aegean Sea.
Odesa Port
However, taken into consideration the considerable interest in the ports of the Black Sea region from international cruise companies and tourists, starting from 2018, under the auspices of the Association of Mediterranean and Adjacent Cruise Ports «MedCruise» – a unique platform for establishing business connections with representatives of the global community, Odesa port has been a member since 2008 – a working group of Black Sea ports was established at the initiative of Odesa port during the 52nd General Assembly of MedCruise in May 2018. This group, known as the Black Sea Working Group (BSWG), included Odesa as well as Constanta (Romania), Varna and Burgas (Bulgaria), and Trabzon (Turkey). The main strategic objectives of this new project were to unite the efforts of the Black Sea ports to encourage cruise lines to return to the region, highlight our consolidated position and announce the readiness to revive the cruise business and welcome cruise passengers in our ports.
From the first meeting of the group, which took place in October 2018 in Odesa, the BSWG meetings were held regularly every few months in each of the Black Sea ports included in the BSWG. A marketing strategy for the development of the region was developed, as well as joint marketing projects and materials aimed at highlighting the tourist attractiveness of the ports. There was also an agreement to participate jointly in key events dedicated to the cruise industry, such as Seatrade Global/Med and the General Assemblies of the MedCruise association, to lobby for the idea of a circular cruise route including Odesa and the ports of the Black Sea region – Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia.
The first “swallow” and certainly a good sign for other cruise companies considering the Black Sea ports as an extension of the Mediterranean route was the call of the “MS Amera” to the port of Odesa in October 2019, after almost 29 months of absence of foreign cruise ships in the port. The vessel was on a cruise of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, visiting Bulgaria (Nessebar) and Romania (Constanta) before arriving at the port of Odesa, and then proceeding towards Turkey (Istanbul).
Amera in Odesa
As a result of fruitful joint cooperation, which also involved city and regional authorities, after multiple and complex negotiations with representatives of cruise lines, and constant promotion of the Black Sea route, the gradually increasing dynamics of cruise ship call applications to the port of Odesa in the following years can rightfully be considered an achievement: 2020 – 11 applications; 2021 – 23 applications; 2022 – 36 applications; 2023 – 34 applications.
Among the companies interested in resuming calls to the ports of the Black Sea and the port of Odesa in particular were: Phoenix Reisen, Azamara Cruises, Ponant, Crystal Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruise Line, Windstar Cruises, SilverSea Cruises, Sea Dream, Seven Seas, Oceania Cruises, TUI Cruises, Noble Caledonia, Norwegian Cruise Line, Mystic Cruises, Scenic, Swan Hellenic, Royal Caribbean International, and Ambassador Cruise Line.
Thus, based on preliminary applications, the port of Odesa was expected to welcome more than 80,000 passengers. Thus, the beginning of the revival of cruise activities in the port of Odesa as a new starting point was supposed to be the year 2020, in which, after almost a three-year break, 11 cruise liners were scheduled to call. However, a new crisis in the form of the global COVID-19 pandemic adjusted all the plans of cruise companies, forcing them to cancel all planned cruise voyages due to the closure of international borders. Given that the crisis equally affected the entire global cruise industry, regardless of the region of navigation and class of the fleet, the global cruise community experienced a significant period of stagnation.
Despite this new crisis, the port of Odesa continued its work to revive cruise shipping by joining the MedCruise Association’s expert committee to develop the Protocol for Receiving and Servicing Cruise Ships during the Pandemic(COVID) and Post-COVID Period. As a result, the “Operational Plan of the Port for Initial Anti-Epidemic Measures in Cases of Suspected Infectious Diseases” was implemented, developed in accordance with the recommendations of the EU project on restarting cruise operations after lifting COVID-19 restrictions, EU Healthy Gateways, and the Guidelines for Safe Resumption of Cruise Operations in the EU, supported by the European Maritime Safety Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The presence of the above response plan allowed the Passenger terminal of the Odesa port to receive the cruise ship SeaDream II in September 2021, which was the only cruise ship call to the Black Sea basin that year.
For its persistent multi-year work, the port of Odesa received an award twice within the MedCruise association, first as the Best Port of the Black Sea Region, and second as the most active port of the Black Sea region during the COVID and Post-COVID periods.
Sea Dream II in Odesa
It seemed that after this global challenging endurance test, cruise shipping would fully recover in the Black Sea as well, but the events of February 2022 and the declaration of martial law in Ukraine due to military aggression from russia nullified all the multi-year efforts to restore the Black Sea region as a safe cruise destination. Of course, in today’s realities, it is not possible to talk about the near-term prospect of resuming cruise tourism in the region, as other ports in the Black Sea basin have also suffered due to the militarization of the Black Sea. However, taking into account the long-term perspective, on the basis of which cruise routes are developed, and not losing hope for a better future, the work, aimed at restoring the cruise traffic in the region and the port of Odesa in particular, continues.
In early June, the 64th General Assembly of the Association of Cruise Ports of the Mediterranean and Adjacent Seas “MedCruise” was held in the city of Tarragona (Spain), which, as always, brought together the entire global cruise community. As a result of the meetings with global cruise representatives, very positive feedback was received from most companies regarding the readiness to return the cruise fleet to the ports of the Black Sea region as soon as the security situation in the Black Sea area normalizes. This indeed gives grounds to hope that soon Southern Palmyra will regain its reputation as a safe and reliable tourist haven.
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