Marella Cruises Signs with V.Ships Leisure for Ship Management

Marella Cruises Signs with V.Ships Leisure for Ship Management

V.Ships Leisure has been awarded a ship management contract by Marella Cruises, according to a press release.

It is believed to be the largest management contract in the cruise industry.

The five-year agreement will cover the full technical, crewing, digital and ESG management of all of Marella’s five cruise ships, with operations commencing towards the end of 2025.

Adrian Hibbert, Cruise Operations Director at Marella Cruises, commented: “Throughout the tender process, we were hugely impressed by the calibre of the team at V.Ships Leisure and the depth of their industry expertise. We look forward to working together to deliver safe, reliable and sustainable operations across our fleet.”

Per Bjørnsen, CEO of V.Ships Leisure, said: “This contract is a clear endorsement of our talented team, commitment to ESG and our digital-first approach. Above all, it’s a testament to our track record and further reinforces our leadership in the cruise sector. We are extremely proud to be working with Marella Cruises and are looking forward to collaborating to achieve operational excellence.”

The first two vessels will come into management by the end of the year, with the other three joining in the first half of 2026.

As part of the new partnership, V.Ships Leisure will build upon its already strong UK presence by establishing a dedicated Marella Cruises fleet cell in the UK, operating from its Southampton office and supported by the wider V. network. The decision reflects V.’s commitment to providing Marella Cruises with local expertise backed by global scale, reach and experience, according to a press release.

V. will leverage its ShipSure platform to enable data-driven decision-making across fleet maintenance and operations, supporting more efficient and proactive management and giving Marella Cruises enhanced transparency into the operations.

Marella Cruises will benefit both from V.’s end-to-end management services and from V.ERDE, our dedicated decarbonisation and environmental compliance program.

Maersk to Explore Large-Scale Green Methanol Fuel Production with Spain

MADRID, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Maersk plans to produce up to two million tonnes of e-methanol a year in Spain by 2030 to supply its fleet of cargo ships and reduce its carbon footprint, the shipping giant and the Spanish government said on Thursday.

The project will require an investment of about 10 billion euros ($9.75 billion), according to Spanish government calculations, and Spain may enter as a strategic investor.

An agreement on the project, which will be partly financed by EU recovery funds, was signed on Thursday in Madrid by Maersk CEO Søren Skou and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

It forms part of an objective by Maersk, the world’s second-largest container shipping firm, to achieve net zero emissions in its business by 2040.

Maersk plans to put 19 vessels capable of running on e-methanol between 2023 and 2025, which will require around 750,000 tonnes of the fuel, Maersk said. 

The company will need roughly 6 million tonnes of e-methanol per year to reach its 2030 emissions target, it said.

With global shipping accounting for nearly 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions, the sector is under growing pressure to reduce its carbon footprint.

As the company looks to switch from diesel, finding a reliable supply of greener fuels remains one of its key challenges and has pushed the company to opt for producing its own fuel in strategic locations. 

Sanchez said the project was “perfectly aligned” with Spain’s reindustrialisation and energy transition strategies, adding it would help meet the EU’s commitment to decarbonisation.

The project will begin in the second half of 2024 and is currently securing financing from banks and investors.

“If we enter the shareholding, it would be to give a signal to other companies and investors,” said a senior government source.

The added demand will mean Spain will need to speed up the procurement of renewable plants, but the Spanish government pointed out that Maersk can also opt to buy farms that are already in operation to speed up the process. 

Last year, Maersk announced the launch of the world’s first carbon-neutral liner vessel, which will begin operating in 2023. It has said all future ships will be built with dual fuel technology installed, allowing them to run on either e-methanol or low-sulphur fuel oil. 

($1 = 1.0252 euros)

(Reporting by Belén Carreño, Charlie Devereux and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; editing by David Latona and Jason Neely)