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NEW CRUISE SEASON AT DUNKIRK
23rd may 2012

The arrival, this morning, of the liner “Costa Voyager” marked the start of the 2012 cruise season at Dunkirk.

The “Costa Voyager”, chartered by the tour operator TAAJ, docked at 8.00 this morning at Dunkirk’s Freycinet 12 quay. The liner will take its French, Belgian and Swiss passengers on a week’s discovery of the fjords of Norway and the Baltic.
180m long and with a breadth of 25.5m, the “Costa Voyager” has 396 cabins distributed over 8 decks. Its agent is the firm Humann & Taconet.

The City’s medal was awarded to the master of the “Costa Voyager” during a ceremony in the presence of COSTA’s Deputy General Director Patrick Pourbaix, Jo Dairin, Deputy Mayor and Vice-President of Dunkirk Urban Community, and Christine Cabau Woehrel, Chair of Dunkerque-Port’s Executive Committee.

Three other departures for identical cruises are due on 31 May, 8 June and 20 June.

Dunkirk, France’s third-ranking port and the seventh port of the North Europe Range which extends from Le Havre to Hamburg, continues to develop its cruise activity.
With its privileged geographic location, the port of Dunkirk allows rapid access to the countries of Northern Europe. Dunkirk also stresses the fluidity of pre-routing by rail and motorway to offer summer cruises to customers from France and the neighbouring European countries.

Dunkerque-Port now stands as a new alternative for tour operators and shipping companies specialising in the cruise industry. It aims to attract both "transit" calls (one-day calls with the possibility of exploring the city centre and going on excursions) and "turnaround" calls (passenger disembarkation and boarding, luggage transfers) that require the assistance of port handling companies.

This seasonal activity has high added value and enhances the attractiveness of city centre retail stores as well as the hotel trade and the agencies serving these ships.

These new calls have been made possible by the collaboration between the Dunkirk and Flanders Dunes Tourist and Conference Centre, the City of Dunkirk, Dunkirk Urban Community and Dunkerque-Port.
The partnership with COSTA and TAAJ will be consolidated in 2013 with six calls at Dunkirk already confirmed.

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