2016, February 1: April 2015 may be remembered in the history of the Port of Port of Spain for the inaugural visit of the mv Glovis Crystal. It was the first call by a ship from the Hyundai Glovis Line to Trinidad and Tobago but it was also the Crystal’s maiden voyage.
With onboard capacity for 6,500 vehicles and storage facility at the Port of Port of Spain for 3,300 vehicles, the country’s port authority expects this new business relationship to increase roll-on/roll-off volumes.
Port of Spain continues to experience growth in its cruise business. Although not one of the Caribbean’s leading cruise ship destinations, the Port of Port of Spain has been receiving a fairly significant volume of cruise business. The 2014-15 cruise season (the winter months in the northern hemisphere) brought 10 cruise ship visits with 13,085 visitors. The schedule for the 2015-16 cruise season had 18 cruise ship calls and a possible 15,696 passengers.
Cruise lines calling at Port of Spain include MSC Cruises, Princess Cruises, Holland America, Saga Shipping Company, Hapag Lloyd, Haimark and Swan Hellenic.
The MSC Orchestra, with passenger capacity of 2,550, is the largest ship on the schedule for the current season. Its first visit was on December 17 and it is scheduled to make a total of eight calls at Port of Spain. The Asuka II of NYK Cruises will make its inaugural visit to Port of Spain on February 18.[]