Trauma and Distress on a Cruise during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study with Italian and French Tourists

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed our daily lives. One of the sectors most affected was tourism and travel – and, more specifically, cruises, given the prolonged time passengers spend with others within the small spaces of the cruise ship. While finding well-organised entertainment opportunities on cruises is possible, emergency conditions may cause panic. On such occasions, reactions can be highly stressful or even traumatic. This research explores the events and emotions experienced by passengers during a cruise ship quarantined for COVID-19. The empirical materials consist of interviews with 15 passengers. The analyses show four thematic areas: fear of contagion, feelings of discrimination, cooperation between passengers and relationship with the crew. The problems during a cruise ship quarantine presented by the passengers in this study reveal the need for psychological preparation for the crew and security personnel. Finally, we suggest that telemedicine and telepsychology are key elements to improve the efficiency of behavioral control on cruise ships and to mitigate the COVID-19 effects on tourists' well-being during a quarantine. © 2023 by the author.

Optimal selection of cruise ship waste disposal ports

As cruise ships call at many ports and passengers come from all over the world, it is very easy to carry viruses on cruise ships. Under the control of the epidemic situation on board, the solid waste generated by them should be scientifically treated to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 pneumonia. Therefore, Reasonable selection of waste disposal ports and formulation of unloading plans are directly related to the resumption of cruise operations. This study considers the cost and risk of waste disposal, uses robust optimization to deal with waste volume, increases the scenarios of port service interruption due to epidemics and other reasons, and proposes a variety of emergency strategies. Finally, the relevant strategies are selected according to the decision-maker's preference for cost and risk;By solving the relevant examples, the optimal choice of the cruise ship waste disposal port under the epidemic situation is given, which verifies the validity and feasibility of the model. The research helps to improve the management of cruise waste during the post-epidemic period, and has practical value and guiding significance for the normal operation and development of the global cruise market. © 2023 SPIE.

Sustainable Cruise Tourism: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Areas

The cruise shipping industry has existed for centuries. However, sustainability is a relatively new trend that could make a big difference and someday impact the industry. A growing body of research on sustainable cruise tourism includes studying changes among industry stakeholders, internal and external processes, and more. However, until now, there have been no comprehensive and systematic reviews of the academic literature on this topic and proposals for future research areas. The sample for our research consists of 56 articles structured into the following themes and subthemes: (1) corporate social responsibility (public interaction and emissions management);(2) territory management (collaboration with stakeholders and infrastructure development);(3) training in sustainable behavior (passengers, ship personnel, and other stakeholders). These themes fully explore the various use cases for sustainable cruises, forming a conceptual framework for understanding trends for the industry's sustainable development. We direct the attention of other researchers to the following areas for further research: GHG emissions of cruising;biodiversity impacts;quantitative understanding of the target audience and their participation in sustainability financing;in-depth understanding of the reasons for cooperation between stakeholders;identifying the true motivation for participation in sustainable development;the long-term trends;and how the shipping industry is adapting to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effects of COVID-19 on passenger shipping activities and emissions: empirical analysis of passenger ships in Danish waters

This paper focuses on the analysis of the COVID-19 effects on passenger shipping in Danish waters as an example and aims to analyse the differences in passenger vessel activities and emissions before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Two sets of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data for the passenger ships sailing in Danish waters associated with the whole year respectively for 2020 and 2019 are used for a comprehensive evaluation of the passenger shipping activities in the region by means of the analysis of variance and bottom-up emission models. A comparison of those results based on the two datasets shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has a major impact on cruise ships, with a significant reduction in the number of ships, average speed, and average draught. In contrast, the pandemic has a smaller impact on ferry-pax only and ferry-ro pax vessels. The effects can also be seen from the fact that, after the COVID-19 outbreak, SOx emissions from cruise ships, ferry-pax only and ferry-ro pax vessels were reduced by 50.71%, 0.51% and 0.82%, respectively. This investigation provides an important reference for policy makers in the marine environment sector.

Can ship travel contain COVID-19 outbreak after re-opening: a Bayesian meta-analysis.

Large gatherings of people on cruise ships and warships are often at high risk of COVID-19 infections. To assess the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 on warships and cruise ships and to quantify the effectiveness of the containment measures, the transmission coefficient (ß), basic reproductive number (R0), and time to deploy containment measures were estimated by the Bayesian Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered model. A meta-analysis was conducted to predict vaccine protection with or without non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). The analysis showed that implementing NPIs during voyages could reduce the transmission coefficients of SARS-CoV-2 by 50%. Two weeks into the voyage of a cruise that begins with 1 infected passenger out of a total of 3,711 passengers, we estimate there would be 45 (95% CI:25-71), 33 (95% CI:20-52), 18 (95% CI:11-26), 9 (95% CI:6-12), 4 (95% CI:3-5), and 2 (95% CI:2-2) final cases under 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 90% vaccine protection, respectively, without NPIs. The timeliness of strict NPIs along with implementing strict quarantine and isolation measures is imperative to contain COVID-19 cases in cruise ships. The spread of COVID-19 on ships was predicted to be limited in scenarios corresponding to at least 70% protection from prior vaccination, across all passengers and crew.

187 - Cruise Ship Infectious Disease Outbreak

This chapter examines infectious disease outbreak on a cruise ship, including the outbreaks and handling of 2020 Sars-CoV-2 on cruise ships early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Optimal selection of cruise ship waste disposal ports

As cruise ships call at many ports and passengers come from all over the world, it is very easy to carry viruses on cruise ships. Under the control of the epidemic situation on board, the solid waste generated by them should be scientifically treated to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 pneumonia. Therefore, Reasonable selection of waste disposal ports and formulation of unloading plans are directly related to the resumption of cruise operations. This study considers the cost and risk of waste disposal, uses robust optimization to deal with waste volume, increases the scenarios of port service interruption due to epidemics and other reasons, and proposes a variety of emergency strategies. Finally, the relevant strategies are selected according to the decision-maker's preference for cost and risk;By solving the relevant examples, the optimal choice of the cruise ship waste disposal port under the epidemic situation is given, which verifies the validity and feasibility of the model. The research helps to improve the management of cruise waste during the post-epidemic period, and has practical value and guiding significance for the normal operation and development of the global cruise market. © 2023 SPIE.

Vito Project: Hull / Mooring Design & Platform Installation

In 2009, the Vito field was discovered in more than 4,000 ft of water approximately 150 miles offshore from New Orleans, Louisiana. The project produces from reservoirs nearly 30,000 feet below sea level. This paper provides an overview of the Hull & Mooring system, executing a minimum technical scope to produce a simplistic design. This paper is part of a Vito Project series at OTC 2023, and the other papers are listed in the references. The original Vito project execution strategy was to replicate the Shell mega-project of Appomattox. As the industry and market began to change in 2015, the project faced significant financial hurdles, and the project team decided to refresh the design concept to reduce cost and simplify. The team regrouped to propose a smaller semi-submersible Floating Production System (FPS) with a simplistic mooring design. The Topsides was designed to be lifted as a single module, with a payload of less than 10,000 st to enable competitive tendering process. The redesigned FPS concept was moored with 12 taut, chain – polyester – chain mooring line system utilizing an in-line mooring tensioner, removing the traditional mechanically complicated and space demanding "on-vessel" winch systems. Vito employed a passive hull system, with all ballasting occurring over the top without hull penetrations. There were no pump rooms within the hull as equipment is accessed from top of column, removing the need for regular hull access to maintain equipment. The hull compartmentation also followed a simple approach, containing only 12 ballast tanks to reduce fabrication cost. The hull design also included simplified ring stiffening for columns which eliminated the traditional orthogonally stiffened systems. Additionally, the structure utilized an upper column frame structure to support the topsides deck and served as a bracing for supporting columns at the top for squeeze-pry loads and bracing for supporting columns during dry tow. The simplification of the stiffening system and topsides deck support design reduced interfaces between hull and topsides and also opened up options for fabrication of topsides and hull. Key challenges included developing installation methods without traditional FPS mooring chain jacks and increasing installation options by not requiring a large installation derrick barge and enabling use of common anchor handler vessels. The project experienced fabrication delays due to COVID-19, which required creative solutions transporting the FPS from Singapore to the Gulf of Mexico. The design team © 2023, Offshore Technology Conference.

Impact of Disruption on Ship Emissions in Port: Case of Pandemic in Long Beach

To achieve environmental sustainability on ships, stakeholders should make efforts to reduce emissions. Port authorities are crucial to attain this goal by introducing new policies. This study takes the Port of Long Beach as an example to assess port-wide ship emissions and explain the significance of shore power policy. Additionally, the study considers the impact of disruptions, such as the COVID pandemic, on ship emissions. The analysis compares data from three years before and after the pandemic to examine the relationship between ship waiting times, quantities, and emissions. The findings indicate that the majority of port-wide ship emissions are generated by berthing or anchoring vessels, from ship auxiliary engines and boilers. Furthermore, ship congestion due to reduced port productivity during the pandemic significantly increased emissions from berthing and anchoring vessels, with the emission proportion increasing from 68% to 86%. Adopting the shore power policy has effectively reduced ship emissions in port areas, and increasing the number of ships utilising shore power will be instrumental in tackling excessive ship emissions.

Disassembly, Re-Engineering, Mobilization and Re-Assembly Journey of the First Lift Boat from Gulf of Mexico to the Caspian Sea

The Cheleken field offshore Turkmenistan is going through brown field development and challenges with retaining and enhancing production increase every day. Well Interventions are deemed to be a daily necessity to maintain production. Coiled Tubing, Wireline and other rigless interventions have been used directly on platforms resulting in occupying critical spaces, logistic and marine congestion (one Coiled Tubing Move comprises of over twenty lifts), structure integrity limitations, crane and lifting limitation, and a lot more. The need for a self-elevating platform arose and operator search for a proper one within the Caspian Sea ended with disappointments. This paper details the innovative and out of the box solution that was put in place to mobilize the first Lift Boat to the Caspian Sea. A lift boat was identified in the USA in the Gulf of Mexico which was underutilized after the pandemic and oil recession. The Class 230 specifications met the end user's requirements but the challenge was how to mobilize it to the Caspian. In addition, there were a handful of modifications that were requested for the Caspian operation that were not necessarily required in the Gulf. Mobilization of the lift boat must be carried out through the Volga-Don canal locking system which has a width of 57 feet 9 inch (maximum allowable beam for vessels is 56 feet 5 inches). The beam of the lift boat was 78 feet which is too wide to fit through the Volga-Don shipping canal. Hence, it was necessary to disassemble and transport the lift boat in sections. This paper describes the following: • Disassembly requirements necessary to prepare the lift boat for mobilization • The mobilization of the lift boat • • Installation of well service and intervention equipment • Technology and methodology adopted The reassembly requirements once the lift boat reached the shipyard at Caspian Sea The Lift boat was disassembled into three major sections for transportation: a) the center hull module b) the port wing module, and c) the starboard wing module. The wing modules, miscellaneous equipment and containers were loaded onto a barge and sea-fastened for transportation. The center hull module was wet towed to the shipyard located in the Caspian where the lift boat was reassembled, and the well service equipment was installed. The mobilization and assembly happened during the Covid-19 era, and the vessel was hit by Hurricane Ida which impacted the disassembly schedule. Challenges on mobilizing the personnel, equipment, machinery, port clearance, etc. were all extremely tough due to Covid-19. The paper will also cover technical implications on conducting this task by complying with the classification and flag state requirements as per Turkmenistan authority. The main lesson of the paper is the identification of gaps on mobilization and how the improved techniques can be utilized for executing the task on a fast-track manner. © 2023, Offshore Technology Conference.

An empirical and modelling approach to the evaluation of cruise ships' influence on air quality: The case of La Paz, Mexico.

Maritime activity has diverse environmental consequences impacts in port areas, especially for air quality, and the post-COVID-19 cruise tourism market's potential to recover and grow is causing new environmental concerns in expanding port cities. This research proposes an empirical and modelling approach for the evaluation of cruise ships' influence on air quality concerning NO2 and SO2 in the city of La Paz (Mexico) using indirect measurements. EPA emission factors and the AERMOD modelling system coupled to WRF were used to model dispersions, while street-level mobile monitoring data of air quality from two days of 2018 were used and processed using a radial base function interpolator. The local differential Moran's Index was estimated at the intersection level using both datasets and a co-location clustering analysis was performed to address spatial constancy and to identify the pollution levels. The modelled results showed that cruise ships' impact on air quality had maximum values of 13.66 µg/m3 for NO2 and 15.71 µg/m3 for SO2, while background concentrations of 8.80 for NOx and 0.05 for SOx (µg/m3) were found by analysing the LISA index values for intersections not influenced by port pollution. This paper brings insights to the use of hybrid methodologies as an approach to studying the influence of multiple-source pollutants on air quality in contexts totally devoid of environmental data.

Update on Risk Criteria for Crude Oil Tanker Fleet

In recent years, the maritime trade of crude oil has suffered notable perturbations caused by the unbalanced relationship between supply and demand. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a drop in oil consumption in 2019, followed by a reduction in production in 2020. The seaborne transport of oil accounts for approximately 50–60% of all crude oil in world production. The crude oil market is a crucial regulator of the global economy and instabilities in this market have noticeable effects on collective risks. The immediate risks that the society see are the changes in the cost of living, which are followed by political uncertainties. Less visible are the risks that these uncertainties have on shipping companies and the level of management stability they have to maintain in order to keep seagoing safe. This paper presents an update on the overall state of risk management for the crude oil tanker fleet, evidenced by EMSA and other international marine organisations. The previous paper, entitled Safety Assessment of Crude Oil Tankers, which applied the methodology of the Formal Safety Assessment (FSA), was published in 2018 and covered the historical data related to the fleet size, accident reports, amount of oil spilled on sea and the economic value of the crude oil transport business. The particular focus of this paper is on the evolution of the risk acceptance criteria over the years and the difference in the predictions from 2018 to the present day. The effects of the pandemic on crude oil shipping are discussed through the changes in the risks. Three of them are analysed: PLL (potential loss of lives), PLC (potential loss of containment) and PLP (potential loss of property). The representation of the risk applies the F-N curves among the risk acceptance criteria lines observed for different tanker sizes. Among the three risks, the paper exposes the vulnerability of the loss of containment risk, where the strong economic impact of the oil trade outweighs the environmental concerns. In relation to the PLC, the paper proposes the approach of relating the oil spill acceptability with the spill quantity and ship revenue instead of to the cost of cleaning or the cost of environment recovery.

Digital transformation for shipping container terminals using automated container code recognition

Keywords: Character isolation Character recognition Container codes recognition Histogram of oriented gradients Support vector machine Due to the sweeping waves of global industry development, the number of containers passing through terminal ports increases every day. [...]it is essential to automate the identification process for the container codes to replace the manual identification for more efficient logistics and safer workplace. [...]this requires high labor costs and leads to human errors due to fatigue from repetitive work. [...]the repeated manual identification process at terminal ports has hindered us from moving forward to a more efficient logistics system. [...]SVMs are deployed to determine isolated characters.

A Close Contact Tracing Method Based on Bluetooth Signals Applicable to Ship Environments

There are still outbreaks of COVID-19 across the world. Ships increase the risk of worldwide transmission of the virus. Close contact tracing remains as an effective method of reducing the risk of virus transmission. Therefore, close contact tracing in ship environments becomes a research topic. Exposure Notifications API (Application Programming Interface) can be used to determine the encountered location points of close contacts on ships. Location points of close contact are estimated by the encountered location points. Risky areas in ships can be calculated based on the encountered location points. The tracking of close contacts is possible with Bluetooth technology without the Internet. The Bluetooth signal can be used to judge the proximity among detecting devices by using the feature that Bluetooth has a strong signal at close range. This Bluetooth feature makes it possible to trace close contacts in ship environments. In this paper, we propose a method for close contact tracing and showing the risky area in a ship environment by combining beacon and Exposure Notification API using Bluetooth technology. This method does not require an Internet connection for tracing close contacts and can protect the personal information of close contacts. Copyright © 2023 KSII.

International cruise research advances and hotspots: Based on literature big data

This paper makes a systematic visual analysis of cruise research literature collected in science network database from 1996 to 2019. The results show that: the overall number of published literature on cruise research is growing;North American states, Europe, and Asia are the main regions of cruise research. The evolutionary of theme development of cruise research has three stages, and the current hot topics of cruise research can be summarized as cruise tourism, luxury cruises, cruise passengers, destination ports, environmental and biological conservation, and cruise diseases. Future research in the cruise field are in the areas of cruise supply chain, technology in cruise, children's cruise experience, itinerary design, planning and optimization, brand reputation and luxury cruises, public transportation in destinations, environmental responsibility of passengers and corporate social responsibility, optimization of energy systems, climate change in relation to the cruise industry, the Chinese cruise market and risk management of cruise diseases.

Seroepidemiologic Investigation of a COVID-19 Outbreak Aboard a U.S. Navy Ship

The crew of USS Kidd experienced a COVID-19 outbreak identified in April 2020. This is the earliest documented COVID-19 study with RT-PCR, serology, and pre-exposure test data on the entirety of the exposed population (n=333). Case definitions included 121 confirmed (36.3% of crewmembers) and 18 probable (5.4% of crewmembers) based on laboratory diagnostic test results. At the time of testing positive, 62 (44.6%) cases reported no symptoms. Hispanic ethnicity (AOR: 2.71, CI: 1.40-5.25) and non-smoker status (AOR: 2.28, CI: 1.26-4.12) were identified as statistically significant risk factors. This study highlights the value of rapid, onboard diagnostic testing to quickly identify an outbreak and enumerate cases, as well as the serological testing to flag potential cases missed with standard viral case identification methodologies.

Environmental Compliance and Practices Of Cruise Ships in ísafjörður, Iceland

The drastic growth of cruise tourism in the world, while potentially beneficial for economic growth in local communities, also brings concerns regarding environmental impacts. This research used the port of Ísafjörður, Iceland, a growing hotspot destination for cruise ships, as a case study to aid in understanding the potential environmental impacts from cruise ships. The study's aims were: 1) to determine the quantity and type of waste discharged to the shore facilities by cruise ships in Ísafjörður in 2019, and 2) to explore the compliance behavior of the ships in adhering to Icelandic and international environmental regulations. To do this, quantitative and qualitative questions were presented in a survey to officers from 40 cruise ships, accounting for 87% of the total 46 different ships that docked in Ísafjörður in the 2019 cruise ship season. The survey questions were designed based on the MARPOL Convention and the law of Iceland, and these questions were compared with the ship's statutory record or ship's certificates to strengthen the reliability of the data. The questions covered five categories: emissions, waste oil, wastewater, garbage and food waste, and ballast water. Results showed that very little garbage and food waste had been discharged to shore facilities, and this was likely because Ísafjörður is one of several stops for many cruise ships in Iceland and the waste had simply been discharged elsewhere. In assessing the other four categories, 8 out of the 40 cruise ships carried out illegal activities, including 12 specific violation cases. This article discusses three primary reasons for those violations: accessibility, inconsistency, and monitoring. This research was conducted pre-COVID-19;however, by 2022 cruise ship calls in Ísafjörður approached preCOVID-19 numbers. Interested parties such as local communities, national decision makers, tourism boards, municipal planners, and environmental agencies must use the best available knowledge, such as this study, to manage the positive and negative aspects of the growth of cruise ship tourism, and perhaps even more so in a post-COVID-19 phase.

Ship Surveys and Certification During Global Health Pandemics, Challenges and Opportunities Presented by COVID-19

This article examines how flag states, port states, and the shipping industry have attempted to fulfill their obligations to carry out mandatory ship surveys and certification in response to challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and provides guidance for future pandemics. Although the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Conventions do not have procedures to deal with the impacts of global pandemics on ship surveys and certification, the IMO has provided guidance via circular letters, taking a pragmatic and practical approach. Several flag states extended the validity of certificates by taking either a case-by-case or a blanket approach within the statutory maximum of three months. With regard to the extension beyond the statutory period of three months, flag states should consider requests using an evidence-based assessment on a case-by-case basis. Classification societies play an important role in the extension of the validity of certificates by providing their technical expertise and recommendations. Port state control serves as a safety net in the event that flag states do not comply with their obligations. In this regard, cooperation between flag states, port states, and classification societies is key to managing survey and certification during a pandemic. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated an accelerated need for the development of remote surveys. It has also illustrated a need to develop guidance on remote surveys under exceptional circumstances in order to respond to future pandemics. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Coordinated location-allocation of cruise ship emergency supplies under public health emergencies

For the rapid development of the cruise industry, the cruise disaster relief supply chain has attracted extensive attention, especially because COVID-19 cases on international cruise ships occurred. In this paper, we propose an idea of coordination layout for cruise ship emergency supplies, the problem optimized two objective functions of maximizing coverage satisfaction and minimizing the total cost, addressing the low efficiency of resource utilization at the same. By applying to cruise ship emergency supplies layout of Northeast Asia cruise port group system, using expert scoring method and AHP to evaluate cruise port security vulnerability. The NSGA-II algorithm is used to solve the multi-objective programming model. A numerical example shows that the optimization design model and method are valid and feasible, and the algorithm is efficient for solving the above collaborative location and allocation problem of sectional reserves, which can also offer a variety of decision-making options. © 2023 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press