MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Punta Arenas anticipates drastic 33% fall in cruise visitors this season

EPA General Manager Eduardo Manzanares

Less than a month for the beginning of the official cruise season 2010/11, prospects for Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile are not at all encouraging with an anticipated activity contraction of 33% over last year, according to the Empresa Portuaria Austral, EPA, which manages local port activities.

This in practical terms means that the number of cruise passengers expected this season will be 20.000 less, from 60.737 to 40.921, this coming season, the worst scenario in the last seven years.

The season takes off in September with the Chilean flagged Via Australis and Mares Australis, with a further incorporation in December, Stella Australis, but these are domestic cruise companies with limited tours in the region.

The big challenges are the international cruise calls and passenger landings, which takes off next November when Prince Albert (with 130 pax) calls at Puerto Natales.

However according to EPA this declining tendency is not new and has been steady particularly in the last two seasons.

The peak of the last ten years was in 2007/08 with 88.000 cruise passengers visiting Punta Arenas. But since then numbers have been falling and 2010/11 promises to be like 2002/03 when only 43.000 cruise visitors arrived in the extreme south of Chile.

EPA General Manager Eduardo Manzanares points out three issues as the main reason behind the steady decline of the cruise industry for Punta Arenas and which will have an impact for the tourist industry in the region.

“Extra-port costs, recession in the developed countries and the cancelling of many destinations and cruises has contributed to the 50% decline of the last two years”, said Manzanares, who points out to 2008 when the collapse of the housing market in the US, as the starting point.

Regarding harbour costs Manzanares makes a distinction between the actual port fees and the additional services.

“The harbour fees are 15% to 17% of the total port costs. In Punta Arenas it’s almost the same as in Ushuaia, approximately 10 US dollars per passenger. However the problems are the other services’ costs such as pilots, signals, tugs” Manzanares pointed out.

To these problems must be added the decision by several cruise companies to drastically cut the calls in Punta Arenas or have simply opted for shorter routes along the Atlantic coast of South America catering for the Brazilian market.

Of the nine international cruise vessels which sailed along Atlantic Patagonia last season “only four will be arriving in Punta Arenas totalling 11 calls, while Ushuaia will be hosting the 37 calls, anticipated Manzanares.