MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mega Cruise merger.

P6O Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruise announced this week a merger of equals that will create the world's largest cruise operator with a combined group value of 6 billion US dollars and overall annual sales of plus 5 billion US dollars.

P&O's current CEO Director Peter Ratcliffe will be taking over as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the new merger, that includes 41 vessels and 75,000 berths. "Combined purchasing and marketing, as well as the elimination of duplication in office functions will help achieve significant savings", said Mr. Ratcliffe. Cruise industry analysts said the merger is geared to cost streamlining and is expected to achieve 100 million dollars savings during the first year. "Although the long term dynamics of the industry remains strong and no vessels will be scrapped, the current situation needs to adjust running costs and capacity", said Mario Cuomo a cruise operator in Miami. Aggressive price cutting, over capacity and drop in earnings have haunted the industry even before the September 11th. events when massive cancellation of reservations occurred.

Cruise season begins in Punta Arenas

Cruise vessel "Ryndam", that this week is expected in the Falklands with almost a thousand visitors, marked the official beginning of the season for Punta Arenas. Contrary to previous occasions, Chilean maritime authorities imposed strict security measures in the harbour area which were considered "exaggerated" by some of the ship chandlers. However Captain Jonathan Mercer, speaking for passengers and crew, said he was grateful to local authorities for all the precautions taken and added that they has not interfered with those wishing to land and tour Punta Arenas and surrounding areas. Captain Mercer said port duties in Punta Arenas are similar to the rest of South America with the exception of the tug service. Apparently last year "Ryndam" because of strong gales, was forced to contract two tugs for ten hours and the final bill was 100,000 US dollars. Chilean officials indicated that "Ryndam" arrived from Puerto Montt and was heading to Ushuaia.

Santiago, safest airport

Santiago has the most reliable airport in Latinamerica according to a poll among 500 top officials from the air industry in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela and Mexico. Similarly Lan Chile and Varig from Brazil are considered the safest and preferred airlines in the region according to a report publi