Hong Kong-based Dream Cruises’ World Dream cruise ship made its first port call to Keelung on July 8 and tourism operators have said that the port could receive a visit by Royal Caribbean International’s new Spectrum of the Seas in 2021.
With gross tonnage (GT) of 151,300, the World Dream is the largest ship ever to visit Keelung Port, the Keelung Harbor Bureau said on Sunday.
Tourism operators have said that the 169,379GT Spectrum of the Seas could set a new record if it makes an anticipated port call in 2021.
Photo courtesy of the Port of Keelung and Taiwan International Ports Co
However, the record for the largest ship to dock in Keelung would likely be broken even sooner, when Switzerland-based MSC Cruises’ 171,598GT Bellissima visits the port in March next year, Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) said, adding that today, anything larger than 140,000GT is considered a large ship.
UK-based Princess Cruises’ 144,216GT Majestic Princess was docked in Keelung for three months, including during World Dream’s visit on July 8, when there was a record-setting total of 15,000 passengers at the port, TIPC said.
Larger ships mean greater business opportunities, not only in terms of greater passenger loads, but also in terms of greater supply replenishment needs, it said.
The average cruise ship spends more than NT$100 million (US$3.22 million) on supplies annually while docked in Taiwan, it added.
Aside from replenishing supplies, ships also need people to load cargo and perform maintenance work, TIPC Keelung branch manager Wei So-lan (魏碩良) said.
Tourism operators also benefit from larger cruise ships, as they can sell more packages per ship, despite spending the same on advertising, he said.
Taiwan is the second-largest market in Asia for cruise ship packages, but relying on one home port hurts the industry, the Tourism Bureau said, adding that it is trying to develop Kaohsiung and Hualien into alternative home ports.
The bureau said that it is also working with the Asia Cruise Cooperation group to promote Taiwan as a cruise destination for Southeast Asian tourists.
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