RafflesCity
July 22nd, 2005, 02:04 AM
Firm capitalising on niche, bidding for jobs in Europe, Mediterranean
22 Jul 05
By DONALD URQUHART
(SINGAPORE) The Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC) will soon be basking in a greater international limelight when it begins operating San Francisco's glitzy new cruise terminal from Jan 2008, part of the city's US$360 million Bryant Street Pier Project.
http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2005-07-22/dusf22-220900.jpg
After years of political wrangling, intensive lobbying and countless environmental impact studies, San Francisco's James R Herman International Cruise Terminal has finally entered the construction phase.
Work is set to be completed by end-2007 with the SCC-managed terminal beginning operations by Jan 2008, SCC president Cheong Teow Cheng told BT yesterday.
But even before that happens the home-grown cruise specialist will likely be operating cruise terminals at Mediterranean ports in Cyprus and Turkey as early as the middle of next year as it aggressively moves to tap an emerging niche operations and consulting market around the globe.
The San Francisco terminal will, however, be the shining jewel in SCC's crown. 'It will help give us a brand name,' even greater than the company's current reputation, Mr Cheong said. 'It's helping us already in securing two more contracts in Europe,' he added in reference to the two Mediterranean bids where he confidently put the likelihood of winning at 90 per cent.
Heralded as the long-awaited 'revitaliser' of San Francisco's spectacularly situated but woefully dilapidated waterfront, the ambitious waterfront project will cover nearly 65,000 sq m at Piers 30-32 in the heart of the city's South Beach neighbourhood not far from the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.
The project includes a 22-storey condominium adjacent to the terminal which is nearing completion, a public park and marina, as well as the cruise terminal itself which also boasts substantial retail and office space.
The San Francisco Cruise Terminal (SFCT) consortium, which is made up of Lend Lease Capital, Real Estate Services, HF (USA) Inc, Chinese Maritime Transport and Whitney Cressman, was selected in January 2000 to undertake the project which has been languishing under environmental issues since.
HF (USA) Inc is a Mapletree company which was inherited from PSA Corporation after it hived off its non-container port-related businesses.
The SCC is essentially sub-contracted by Mapletree to operate the terminal Mr Cheong said, adding that this includes only the cruise passenger business and not the retail or commercial space which will be managed by the SFCT.
The SCC will be seconding a couple of its key personnel to the new terminal and will also be leveraging on its in-house developed software and specialised IT knowledge, according to Mr Cheong.
'But obviously America is a very different operating environment,' he said pointing to the strong stevedoring and other labour unions.
With the currently operating cruise terminal built in 1914 at Pier 35 scheduled to shut down when the new one is operational, the likely scenario he said was for existing terminal employees to be brought onboard the new terminal.
The cruise centre features two berths, one of about 300 metres in length and the other 500 metres which is more than ample for handling the largest of cruise vessels currently operating in the world, at around 340 metres, according to Mr Cheong.
The cruise terminal building has also been designed for multi-purpose use to take into account the cruising off-season, when it can be used as an exhibition hall.
Well placed to tap the cruise market to the Mexican Riviera as well as north to Alaska, San Francisco saw close to 220,000 cruise passengers in 90 vessel calls from 25 cruise lines in 2004.
22 Jul 05
By DONALD URQUHART
(SINGAPORE) The Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC) will soon be basking in a greater international limelight when it begins operating San Francisco's glitzy new cruise terminal from Jan 2008, part of the city's US$360 million Bryant Street Pier Project.
http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2005-07-22/dusf22-220900.jpg
After years of political wrangling, intensive lobbying and countless environmental impact studies, San Francisco's James R Herman International Cruise Terminal has finally entered the construction phase.
Work is set to be completed by end-2007 with the SCC-managed terminal beginning operations by Jan 2008, SCC president Cheong Teow Cheng told BT yesterday.
But even before that happens the home-grown cruise specialist will likely be operating cruise terminals at Mediterranean ports in Cyprus and Turkey as early as the middle of next year as it aggressively moves to tap an emerging niche operations and consulting market around the globe.
The San Francisco terminal will, however, be the shining jewel in SCC's crown. 'It will help give us a brand name,' even greater than the company's current reputation, Mr Cheong said. 'It's helping us already in securing two more contracts in Europe,' he added in reference to the two Mediterranean bids where he confidently put the likelihood of winning at 90 per cent.
Heralded as the long-awaited 'revitaliser' of San Francisco's spectacularly situated but woefully dilapidated waterfront, the ambitious waterfront project will cover nearly 65,000 sq m at Piers 30-32 in the heart of the city's South Beach neighbourhood not far from the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.
The project includes a 22-storey condominium adjacent to the terminal which is nearing completion, a public park and marina, as well as the cruise terminal itself which also boasts substantial retail and office space.
The San Francisco Cruise Terminal (SFCT) consortium, which is made up of Lend Lease Capital, Real Estate Services, HF (USA) Inc, Chinese Maritime Transport and Whitney Cressman, was selected in January 2000 to undertake the project which has been languishing under environmental issues since.
HF (USA) Inc is a Mapletree company which was inherited from PSA Corporation after it hived off its non-container port-related businesses.
The SCC is essentially sub-contracted by Mapletree to operate the terminal Mr Cheong said, adding that this includes only the cruise passenger business and not the retail or commercial space which will be managed by the SFCT.
The SCC will be seconding a couple of its key personnel to the new terminal and will also be leveraging on its in-house developed software and specialised IT knowledge, according to Mr Cheong.
'But obviously America is a very different operating environment,' he said pointing to the strong stevedoring and other labour unions.
With the currently operating cruise terminal built in 1914 at Pier 35 scheduled to shut down when the new one is operational, the likely scenario he said was for existing terminal employees to be brought onboard the new terminal.
The cruise centre features two berths, one of about 300 metres in length and the other 500 metres which is more than ample for handling the largest of cruise vessels currently operating in the world, at around 340 metres, according to Mr Cheong.
The cruise terminal building has also been designed for multi-purpose use to take into account the cruising off-season, when it can be used as an exhibition hall.
Well placed to tap the cruise market to the Mexican Riviera as well as north to Alaska, San Francisco saw close to 220,000 cruise passengers in 90 vessel calls from 25 cruise lines in 2004.