Photo Log from Editor-In-Chief Bo H. Drewsen’s Trip as Passenger Onboard MV CMA CGM Andromeda
Route
Malta – Beirut | Beirut – Suez Canal | Suez Canal – Jeddah | Jeddah – Jebel Ali | Jebel Ali – Port Kelang | Port Kelang – Yantian | Yantian – Xiamen | Xiamen – Qingdao | Qingdao – Busan
Dear Readers,
The month of July has passed and I hope you have enjoyed the month even without your usual weekly issue of PCW. This special edition of Project Cargo Weekly is focused on travel shipping and my trip onboard CMA CGM Andromeda from Malta to Busan. First of all I wish to dedicate this issue to the sailors of the world who are the ones keeping the supply chain running and the stores full of the much coveted products that we seem to want endlessly.
When I decided to take a containership as passenger with my daughter from Europe to Asia it was not something that came out of the blue. In fact I have travelled this way each year since 2005. This is the 2nd time that my daughter has joined me on a container ship, so she was well aware that internet would not be available onboard. We have spent quality time together and improved our table tennis skills. We have both read a lot of books and also gone ashore to meet contacts/friends and do the occasional shopping (mainly in the endless malls of Dubai).
You may ask why I travel by containership when there are cruise ships available and you may wonder how one passes the time onboard. From my current and previous trips I have found the following benefits:
- Total tranquility onboard for you as a passenger on a “working” ship
- There is ample peace and quiet to read books and no one bothers you
- You have time to reflect on decisions already made and carefully plan for the futureSomehow looking at the ocean in the daytime and stars at night opens your mind completely
- You have time to remember what is important in life and what really means something.
- You can avoid news, most of which is negative and copy/paste anyhow.
The route I chose for this trip included a few ports where I have never been before such as Beirut, Jeddah and Jebel Ali. In all three ports I made new contacts in shipping, met with local agents and come to think of it, if I had visited them in the “conventional way with flights and hotel” the cost and time would have been almost the same, but the stress would have been much more.
So for a shipping man like the undersigned it is indeed the way to travel and the ideal way to combine business with pleasure.
The vessel CMA CGM ANDROMEDA has 5 luxurious cabins on the F deck dedicated to passengers. There is also a passengers recreation room, and on C deck a gym and a small indoor pool which is filled daily with saltwater. Kudos indeed to CMA CGM as a shipowner to offer such a product in today’s market. Most shipowners do not accept passengers. It is not necessarily a cheap way to travel but the cost is reasonable at eur 110/euro/per day/person including all meals. If you would like to know more about the routes that are available around the world then I welcome you to approach Ms. Marie Paule Aubert of Ponant, partner of CMA CGM direct. Her email address is: mpaubert@ponant.com
So without boring you further I will let most of the “talking” in this issue of Project Cargo Weekly be done by the pictures below with brief captions for each.
Next week (on August 10th) the normal newsletter is back in town with interviews, sector news, industry news and so on – and until then I remain…
Yours sincerely,
Bo H. Drewsen
bo.drewsen@projectcargo-weekly.com
Entering the Islamic port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the berth for our 363m long vessel. Meeting onboard with CMA CGM Jeddah office. Present from left to right: Mr. Muhammad A. AlGhamdi, Mr. Bo H. Drewsen, Mr. Muhammad Asif, We were very close to the bulk terminal with a bunch of tanks ready for dispatch, quay cranes at the container terminal.
On the bridge and a view of the choppy seas close to Jebel Ali.
