Cruise & Marine activities are growing business to Blue Water

A period of stable growth means expanding market shares for Blue Water’s worldwide Cruise & Marine team  

The Cruise & Marine Logistics team at Blue Water are busier than ever. The team of approx. 130 dedicated employees service Cruise & Marine clients all over the world, all year round on the quayside in major hubs such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Nantes, Singapore, Nuuk, Stockholm, Lisbon and Dubai.

As the European cruise peak season is decreasing, the team can look back at a busy season with 20 percent more ship deliveries compared to last year, and 40 percent more compared to 2019. In Greenland alone, the team handled 255 port calls during the summer, compared to 138 last year. 

In 2022, the company also entered into historic agreement with the industry giant, Holland American Group covering Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn and P&O Australia. Blue Water manages the warehouse operations for the Group’s main distribution centre in Florida, including order fulfilment, distribution, storage, cross dock and live loads for dry, chilled and frozen shipments and deliveries for the cruise companies and their 36 ships.

Ambitious investments despite a Covid-affected market situation

Blue Water covers both cruise and merchant vessels, and when Covid-19 broke out globally, these markets were affected differently. While the merchant industry in some ways benefited from the increased demand for global supply reliability, the cruise industry more or less shut down as cruise sailings were not possible due to restrictions. 

However, the strategy at Blue Water was clear. While many competitors retired or closed down, Blue Water chose to stay and fine-tune its market setup. And now – on the other side – the company is a valued player in the industry: 

“After Covid-19 market recovery, we were needed as a reliable and well-established player in the field. With our decades of experience and skilled team of experts, we can offer and tailor logistics solutions completely after client specifications and needs. We keep adding value and resources to our digital solutions and worldwide locations for a strengthened market reach”, says Kasper Diaz Sommer, Director Marine Logistics, Blue Water. 

The future is looking bright

The busy European season has not only been a bed of roses. Challenges with trucking capacity in Europe and staffing with important stakeholders have affected the market, but to Blue Water this has not been a showstopper. 

Among things, investments in IT and a new Purchase Order management system are strengthening Blue Water’s ability to service clients smoothly with focus on their needs. On top, the team in Rotterdam is looking into a great warehousing expansion. 

”In general, we are looking into stable growth within both the cruise and merchant industry. We will follow with more local setups and develop existing teams. We are also experiencing greater demands towards more environmentally friendly and sustainable transport and logistics solutions. As a company we are well equipped to handle this demand as we focus on reasonable sourcing, and it is within our strategy to optimise sustainability in all aspects of the supply chain. As a family-owned company we are more flexible to align with such market requirements”, concludes Kasper Diaz Sommer.

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