Episode 1
Cruise Pioneers | Cruise Innovator Powercouples
Join Birgit Liodden, Founder & CEO of The Ocean Opportunity Lab (TOOL), as we embark on a new podcast series exploring the pioneers transforming the cruise industry. In this debut episode, we shine a spotlight on game-changing partnerships that are accelerating the shift from 'pollution to solution'.
Featuring a dynamic panel of industry leaders and innovators, we uncover how collaborative partnerships between corporate cruise players and agile start-ups are driving sustainable, green, and circular solutions. Our guests share real-life examples of how they are tackling emissions, fostering ocean-friendly initiatives, and creating 'Triple P Ripple Effects'—where People, Planet, and Profit align for lasting impact.
This week, Birgit is joined by:
Agnes Árnadóttir, Co-Founder, Brim Explorer
Solvi Hjelmeland, Founder, Purewave AS
Will Pearson, Co-Founder, Ocean Bottle
Gebhard Rainer, CEO, HX (Hurtigruten Expeditions)
Mentioned in this episode:
TOOL's Cruise Innovators
Explore a world of Cruise Innovators, and nominate your favorite startup! community.toolspawn.com For Seatrade Global 40th anniversary in 2025, we will also prepare the very first edition of TOOL´s Cruise Innovators - a global overview of startups & innovators with enabling solutions for cruise. Welcome onboard our voyage into the future - and join the wave! Sign up today - community.toolspawn.com
TOOL's Cruise Pioneers Initiative
Explore a world of Cruise Pioneers, and nominate your favorite initiative! community.toolspawn.com Cruise Pioneers is TOOL´s collaborative mission to track frontrunner initiatives moving global cruise from pollution to solution. We focus on the bold large and small players at the forefront of driving green, clean and circular initiatives, to inspire others to follow their path. Sign up with us on community.toolspawn.com to nominate your Cruise Pioneer Initiative, or explore already featured Pioneers.
Transcript
>> Birgit Liodon: Hello, I'm Birgit Liodon, Sustainability ambassador of
Speaker:Sea Trade and founder of the Ocean Opportunity
Speaker:Lab. Welcome to the Cruise Pioneers
Speaker:podcast by Tool hosted on Sea Trade
Speaker:Cruise Talks Podcasts.
Speaker:In this new series we will dive into the pioneering
Speaker:initiatives of cruise lines and entrepreneurs who
Speaker:move and change the cruise industry. We focus
Speaker:on real life frontrunner initiatives and power
Speaker:couples enabling crews to move from
Speaker:pollution to solution. Get on
Speaker:board our shared expedition as we get behind the
Speaker:scenes and explore how owners,
Speaker:founders and top executives move from
Speaker:vision to deployment. For this first
Speaker:episode we have gathered a group of change makers who
Speaker:partner and build sustainable business across
Speaker:different levels of a cruise supply chain.
Speaker:To show you what we mean with the term power
Speaker:couples, you will gain some inspiring
Speaker:real life examples demonstrating how
Speaker:collaborative partnerships with change
Speaker:makers across corporate crews and startups
Speaker:enables us to utilize the best and
Speaker:complementary strengths and capacities of
Speaker:large and small organizations.
Speaker:With me today, all the way from London is
Speaker:Gebhard Rainer, CEO of HX
Speaker:Expeditions and Will Pearson, Founder
Speaker:of Ocean Bottle. From Oslo we have
Speaker:Agnes Arnadottir of Brim Explorer.
Speaker:And joining us from Spain is Sylvia
Speaker:Almelan, founder of purewave.
Speaker:Welcome everyone. I am so excited to have
Speaker:you joining and enabling
Speaker:you to open up your experiences and
Speaker:cases to our audience.
Speaker:So today we will start off with
Speaker:your pioneer commitment which
Speaker:is really exciting. so I would like to
Speaker:hear from all of you starting with
Speaker:Gebhart. You can introduce
Speaker:your high level targets for an emission free and
Speaker:waste free cruise operation and how you build
Speaker:a competitive edge for future
Speaker:proof industry. Gebhard.
Speaker:>> Gebhard Rainer: Thank you very much Birgit and it's great to be with you
Speaker:on this new innovative format
Speaker:of a podcast. So Ajax
Speaker:Expeditions is and continues to be very, very
Speaker:committed on sustainability as we have
Speaker:been over the last number of years. Now it's
Speaker:a new birth year for us since we have split away
Speaker:from Hurtigruten as our sister
Speaker:company and have become independent
Speaker:as of January this year.
Speaker:And we clearly will continue to focus on
Speaker:sustainability in addition to our
Speaker:focus on science and education. From a sustainability point of
Speaker:view where our goals are. The highest
Speaker:goal of course is to continue to be a leader and the
Speaker:leader in sustainability in walking the
Speaker:talk, so to say in terms of what we do, we want
Speaker:to become carbon neutral, within
Speaker:a reasonable period of time. And the reason why
Speaker:I'm saying reasonable period of time rather than giving you
Speaker:a year is the fact that there's some regulatory changes
Speaker:that we are taking into consideration right now to adjust
Speaker:some of our goals, we were the
Speaker:first cruise company to
Speaker:abandon heavy oil, heavy
Speaker:fuels in 2008. In addition to that we
Speaker:have and we were the first one that abandoned all
Speaker:single use plastics from our ships in
Speaker:2018. We have the only two hybrid
Speaker:electric ships currently in use in expedition
Speaker:cruise or in cruise overall which went
Speaker:into service in 2019 and
Speaker:2020. And we continue
Speaker:to stay very focused on
Speaker:reducing our footprint in the
Speaker:destinations where we go to. So all of our ships
Speaker:have full recycling capabilities
Speaker:both from a waste management point of view in terms
Speaker:of wet waste and dry waste but also in terms
Speaker:of recycling capabilities in terms of
Speaker:gray water, dirty water
Speaker:and heat reclaiming systems on
Speaker:board. So we try to maximize
Speaker:everything as humanly or
Speaker:technically possible. Today technology
Speaker:keeps on advancing and we are on the lookout of what
Speaker:the next new methodologies and new technologies
Speaker:available to us will be in order to further
Speaker:enhance our goals in where we
Speaker:go now. For us sustainability is not only
Speaker:the impact on the environment itself in
Speaker:terms of the environmental footprint that we leave behind but
Speaker:it's also the impact on communities. And that's where our
Speaker:foundation comes into play and where
Speaker:our mindful approach to responsible
Speaker:travel really plays a big role which falls into
Speaker:the educational aspect of what we do with our
Speaker:customers, our passengers.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Thank you so much. And I wanted
Speaker:to have you guys on board with us in this first episode
Speaker:because I know that you have had a really
Speaker:strong practice of working with
Speaker:smaller innovators as part of delivering on your
Speaker:goals. And you mentioned about your initiatives and
Speaker:the focus on reducing single use plastics.
Speaker:So I wanted to bring into our conversation
Speaker:Will Pearson who is part of the
Speaker:value chain that you work with to achieve
Speaker:moving from plastic as a problem into
Speaker:creating circular solutions.
Speaker:And before introducing Will,
Speaker:how strong has the ambition been from
Speaker:your end on proactively bringing in these
Speaker:smaller startups as part of your
Speaker:sustainability work?
Speaker:>> Gebhard Rainer: It's crucial for us, absolutely crucial. We are a
Speaker:small company in itself when you look at the industry as a
Speaker:whole, we are, we jokingly
Speaker:like to call ourselves the oldest startup
Speaker:that currently exists because we have 130 year history but
Speaker:we are a startup as of this year. We are a new
Speaker:company and we have been collaborating with Will and
Speaker:his company for a number of years now in in
Speaker:a very meaningful way and
Speaker:a very attractive way. As well. And the reason why I'm saying attractive
Speaker:is because it is something that speaks
Speaker:to our passengers. It speaks to our passengers
Speaker:in terms of the story behind Ocean
Speaker:Bottle. It speaks to our passengers in terms of our
Speaker:commitment to sustainability, but also our
Speaker:commitment to small innovators
Speaker:and startup companies who are creative
Speaker:enough to address some of the bigger issues in this
Speaker:world.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Yeah, and will that, that gives the word
Speaker:naturally over to you? Can you tell us
Speaker:about what you do in Ocean
Speaker:Bottle and your deliverable on the
Speaker:pioneer commitment moving us towards the
Speaker:clean living oceans.
Speaker:>> Will Pearson: Well Gebhard, thank you very much for the warm
Speaker:introduction and big, it's great to be on
Speaker:this podcast together, really excited about this format
Speaker:and to see what this can do within the cruise
Speaker:industry. so yeah, for a little bit more context on
Speaker:Ocean Bottle, what we're doing as an
Speaker:innovator, and a pioneer, our ambition really is to
Speaker:enable individuals all over the world to make
Speaker:a global impact on the ocean plastic crisis
Speaker:through call the world's most needed
Speaker:reusable bottle which is holding right here. So
Speaker:yeah, for every ocean bottle that we sell, we fund the collection
Speaker:equivalent to a thousand plastic bottles in
Speaker:weight in coastal communities all around the world.
Speaker:And to date we've prevented and collected almost
Speaker:2 billion plastic bottles in
Speaker:weight. I do think it's worth sharing
Speaker:as maybe something of interest is that we've hit
Speaker:that target to date almost without
Speaker:working with the cruise industry and with the travel
Speaker:retail sector. So you imagine what we could
Speaker:do in partnership with a category that sees
Speaker:millions of people through its doors every single
Speaker:day. I think what's really encouraging to see is that
Speaker:many cruise companies have already
Speaker:looking to eliminate single use plastic bottles
Speaker:on board. HX Expedition were the
Speaker:first M movers in terms of this space. so
Speaker:really our kind of high level ambition within
Speaker:cruise is to aid those efforts to reduce
Speaker:single use plastic on board by kind of providing
Speaker:that practical and turnkey sustainability
Speaker:solution. but also connecting the passengers
Speaker:with the huge positive impact that they're making on
Speaker:protecting the ocean and giving them a premium product
Speaker:that they can use for years to come. So yeah, I'm very excited
Speaker:about this. Great to be on the program. I'm sure we'll talk a
Speaker:bit more about the partnership as well and how it's worked
Speaker:practically.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Yes, thank you Will. And that's the
Speaker:plastic side of things. And then
Speaker:we have another innovator that you're working
Speaker:with in AX Expedition, Gebhard
Speaker:that is more combining the local
Speaker:experiences in nature
Speaker:friendly ways with clean
Speaker:whale watching, short
Speaker:cruises. So Brim Explorer.
Speaker:Agnes, you built Brim
Speaker:years ago and you have also been working with ah, what
Speaker:is now Ajax Expeditions for
Speaker:many years. Can you tell a little bit more
Speaker:about how it started and how
Speaker:you started your pioneer commitment that helps
Speaker:deliver on Ajax as well?
Speaker:>> Agnes Arnadottir: Yes, and thank you for the invitation, Birket. So
Speaker:my name is Agnes Arnadottir. I am originally from Iceland
Speaker:and I'm one of two founders of Brim Explorer.
Speaker:So Brim Explorer is a tourism and tech
Speaker:company founded in 2018.
Speaker:We operate our own purpose built hybrid
Speaker:and electric sightseeing vessels mainly in the Arctic
Speaker:part of Norway. So we offer, and also
Speaker:Svalbard, we offer whale watching and northern light cruises as
Speaker:you mentioned, and other nature and wildlife,
Speaker:experiences. So I would have to
Speaker:say that HX or Hurtruten, they've been quite
Speaker:crucial partner for us as a company since the
Speaker:beginning. Our second
Speaker:vessel was launched in 2019 and
Speaker:was basically launched to cooperate
Speaker:with Hurtruten, up on Svalbard where we
Speaker:operate six months a year while there's
Speaker:still daylight. So Brim is an old
Speaker:Norse word for waves, that break when
Speaker:reaching shore. We chose that word because our
Speaker:vision from the start was to create waves and both challenge
Speaker:and set standard for sustainable boat tourism
Speaker:industry. And I think
Speaker:we've managed that quite well. of course creating waves and
Speaker:being innovative is not easy. So the challenges
Speaker:have been multiple, as we have been
Speaker:operating, but now we have five boats
Speaker:in operation and and quite sustainable
Speaker:operation in all
Speaker:aspects.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Yeah. So you're basically a problem
Speaker:solver alongside Will for
Speaker:HX Expedition while they
Speaker:provide the early commercial
Speaker:customer, market from your end, which is
Speaker:I think the very best examples
Speaker:of the power couple dynamics. and then I
Speaker:also invited along Sylvie Elmelan of
Speaker:Purewave. And while Solvi isn't
Speaker:working with Age Expeditions, yet,
Speaker:there is also an amazing market when we connect
Speaker:entrepreneurs together. so
Speaker:Solvi, she has a company that
Speaker:produces ocean friendly pipe
Speaker:cleaners, and where Brim is one of
Speaker:the first customers on board. And
Speaker:can you tell me Agnes, what is the issue
Speaker:about the piping systems on board
Speaker:ships and vessels and how has that been for
Speaker:Brim?
Speaker:>> Agnes Arnadottir: Well, just in general. So if
Speaker:you're, if you claim yourself to be a sustainable company, you
Speaker:have to take sustainability and consideration in every
Speaker:choice you make. Basically, if it's what
Speaker:kind of food you serve on board or plastic, single
Speaker:use plastic as Gephard mentioned,
Speaker:other things are are all the chemicals or, or
Speaker:the the producers, the things you use to clean the
Speaker:boat or or other substances on board. And what
Speaker:Salvi, introduced to us through you Birit. Thank
Speaker:you. Was a, a much more or basically
Speaker:100% environmentally friendly
Speaker:pipe cleaner. and in toilets
Speaker:on, on vessels they tend to clog themselves up very
Speaker:easily. So the general norm is to use
Speaker:strong chemicals to clean the pipes. And of course even though
Speaker:you have a gray water tank or a black water
Speaker:tank, those chemicals end up somewhere. So
Speaker:having an environmental friendly
Speaker:alternative is fantastic. And we have not
Speaker:tested the Pure Wave solution for some months and it
Speaker:works very well. it's simple but it does the job.
Speaker:So I can highly recommend it to, to other bolt
Speaker:operators.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Yeah. Thank you Agnes and
Speaker:Sylvie. That brings the word over to you because I
Speaker:mean your solution is not on the
Speaker:decarbonization part but as Agnes
Speaker:mentioned about the chemicals, the
Speaker:other type of output that we
Speaker:leave behind when we operate ships and
Speaker:vessels. So can you tell us a little bit
Speaker:about Purewave and the
Speaker:difference that you make through your pioneer
Speaker:commitment for the cruise industry?
Speaker:>> Sylvia Almelan: Yes. thank you Birgit. It's so
Speaker:nice to be here. I'm the founder
Speaker:of Purewave.
Speaker:Purewave Pipe Cleaner. Purewave
Speaker:Pipe Cleaner
Speaker:is 100%
Speaker:pure. it's a lot of
Speaker:of Yeah, you can choose a lot of different
Speaker:chemicals out there for pipes but we are
Speaker:the first one with the Swain label.
Speaker:So I am very proud of that. so we have
Speaker:now do a lot of testes
Speaker:and we have Bream together with us and we are
Speaker:so happy for that. And
Speaker:yeah, that is
Speaker:a little bit about Purewave.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: and you have developed this as a
Speaker:startup company, basically delivering to other
Speaker:startups but also targeting the larger
Speaker:players. And I think that is the baseline
Speaker:of all of your three companies is that you
Speaker:are moving into the cruise sector,
Speaker:starting maybe with one actor as
Speaker:your pilot or early stage customer.
Speaker:but then of course we have all of
Speaker:us have different targets to deliver on.
Speaker:Gabhart mentioned a little bit about
Speaker:theirs and I'm really eager to hear from
Speaker:the very different types of operations that you
Speaker:do, your current progress
Speaker:compared to the targets. I would like to Hear
Speaker:you know, in which areas has it been
Speaker:easier to get ahead and
Speaker:where is it that you have experienced the most
Speaker:challenging bottlenecks on your journeys? And
Speaker:Gebert, I will, I will start with you.
Speaker:>> Gebhard Rainer: Yeah, Some of the more
Speaker:challenging areas or the more
Speaker:interesting areas are when you think about
Speaker:fuel in general. So we gave up heavy fuel in
Speaker:2008 but diesel is still a
Speaker:pollutant. It still leaves ah a pretty strong
Speaker:footprint behind. and moving away from
Speaker:that there's in the EU a heavy
Speaker:promotion for eco fuel in order
Speaker:to have more, more of a
Speaker:natural fuel, ah, type
Speaker:that is not completely sustainable or
Speaker:completely emission free. The difficulty with
Speaker:it is one there aren't enough quantities
Speaker:available to actually fuel
Speaker:the whole of the industry. And two from an
Speaker:expedition cruise perspective we
Speaker:typically are leaving from
Speaker:ports where you don't have the facilities to
Speaker:actually have the availability of that type
Speaker:of fuel that would help us. So
Speaker:you look at alternative propulsion like we have done with the two
Speaker:hybrid ships. Use that for load
Speaker:balancing to reduce the overall use of
Speaker:fuel and looking at new technologies,
Speaker:that's one challenge. The other challenge
Speaker:is with recycling which
Speaker:sounds pretty simple because recycling is fairly
Speaker:advanced today in terms of recycling facilities and what you
Speaker:can recycle. The difficulty again is for an
Speaker:expedition cruise company that very often in the
Speaker:ports that we go in, if you look at
Speaker:Antarctica, it's Ushua, Punta Arenas,
Speaker:down in the very south, there are no recycling facilities
Speaker:there. I just got back from Antarctica and
Speaker:I had meetings with the the government, the provincial
Speaker:government in the south of Argentina
Speaker:and they finally have now approved that they
Speaker:will install and build recycling
Speaker:facilities. It's highly political. We've been talking to them for
Speaker:the last 15 years and nothing has
Speaker:moved. everything takes a very long time. Now
Speaker:that we have started a year ago using
Speaker:a private recycling company for
Speaker:limited recycling, it sort
Speaker:of started embarrassing the government
Speaker:and they have now come forward and said yeah,
Speaker:we're going to do recycling. But these are some of the
Speaker:challenges. Shore power for example, because of
Speaker:the hybrid ships that we have and I'm sure
Speaker:Agnes can vouch for that.
Speaker:Very important when you get into port, the biggest
Speaker:pollution happens very often in port with
Speaker:cruise ships because they have to leave their engines on in order to get the
Speaker:systems going or have the systems running. If you can hook
Speaker:up the shore power you can switch off
Speaker:completely from pollutant, fuels
Speaker:and you have clean energy. Shore
Speaker:power is not available everywhere.
Speaker:it's like it is with electric plugs.
Speaker:Every country has its own
Speaker:interpretation of what a plug should look like. Has
Speaker:different connections. There's no international standard yet. At
Speaker:some point hopefully there will be. There are
Speaker:some successes. Scandinavia is far ahead of the
Speaker:rest where you have a lot more shore power
Speaker:accessibility. Iceland has now become
Speaker:shore power sufficient as well. We have last year
Speaker:achieved the first time ever. And the only cruise
Speaker:company that has in every port that we went
Speaker:into in Iceland we have been on shore power. We are
Speaker:getting shore power in Greenland now. we have made an
Speaker:arrangement to have shore power in Nuuk so that
Speaker:we can hook up our ships there. It's a slow process.
Speaker:So these are some of the challenges that they, they look simple on
Speaker:the outset but they're fairly
Speaker:complex behind.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Yeah definitely. And what we see here
Speaker:is so many times the
Speaker:commercial pioneers and actors
Speaker:moving faster than local
Speaker:governments regulations and everything.
Speaker:So will you are delivering and
Speaker:creating a resource
Speaker:replacing a problem with
Speaker:a ah cool guest ah gadget
Speaker:and what have been you know
Speaker:your you know your key
Speaker:achievements on this path and where is it
Speaker:that you find your challenging bottlenecks.
Speaker:>> Will Pearson: Cool. I really like your summary. that
Speaker:being a sustainable guest gadget I think that's a, we might
Speaker:start using that one. yeah, I think you know in terms of current
Speaker:progress but also the bottlenecks you've been facing, you know
Speaker:as this we've been bit busy scaling up
Speaker:internationally over the past few years. We've worked with
Speaker:over 2000 different brands and companies
Speaker:globally. but really besides an incredible
Speaker:partnership with HX
Speaker:Expeditions, you know we are pretty new to
Speaker:the cruise industry. there's a lot of stakeholders
Speaker:to navigate, so excuse the pun there,
Speaker:particularly in, in the large organizations. So I
Speaker:think you know the experience with
Speaker:HX has been incredible. really collaborating
Speaker:quite closely, understanding their needs as a
Speaker:business and then you know us being an agile and
Speaker:innovative startup we can move quite quickly
Speaker:and really deliver on those needs. So I think
Speaker:for us the bottlenecks and what we would love to see more
Speaker:of is probably just more appetite and
Speaker:willingness around testing
Speaker:products. It doesn't have to be across
Speaker:the entire fleet. It could be on one ship
Speaker:to be with to then really test and prove that actually
Speaker:this is something that works, you know both in
Speaker:terms of whether it's a revenue driving opportunity,
Speaker:whether it enhances their sustainability goals, or
Speaker:actually just you know their brand and passenger
Speaker:experience. So that is what we would love to see that kind
Speaker:of test and collaborate model. and really I think,
Speaker:you know, we as the startups often do most of the
Speaker:heavy lifting. So you know, you tell us what you
Speaker:need, we will come and try and deliver
Speaker:that for you. so I think that's really important and I
Speaker:would imagine that it would apply as well to a lot of other
Speaker:innovators that we want to see, you know, tackle
Speaker:the challenges that the cruise companies are
Speaker:facing in terms of climate and nature.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Hm. And Gebhard, you include
Speaker:your guests in the plastic
Speaker:experience in different ways, where you start with
Speaker:the excursions, doing beach
Speaker:cleanings and then they will, they
Speaker:will meet the upcycled plastic both
Speaker:through whales, Ocean bottles and through
Speaker:lanyards on their guest badges and in
Speaker:other ways. And I would assume, Will, that you are
Speaker:eager to attract also more customers from the
Speaker:cruise segment. And Gebhardt, can you give any
Speaker:good recommendations from your end with
Speaker:experiences from Ajax, introducing Ocean
Speaker:Bottle and replacing your single
Speaker:use, plastics?
Speaker:>> Gebhard Rainer: Yeah, absolutely. I mean I could make recommendations both cruise
Speaker:and land based. While Will was
Speaker:talking, I was actually thinking about the previous company where I came from
Speaker:in the Caribbean, Sandals, where we
Speaker:had an initiative going exactly what
Speaker:Ajax has done, what we have done on the cruise ships
Speaker:in replacing plastic bottles.
Speaker:And these are large resorts, hotels where
Speaker:you have a large consumption of water
Speaker:through plastic bottles every day. And it's a huge problem in the Caribbean
Speaker:just like it is everywhere else.
Speaker:Ocean Bottle could do a fantastic job with them
Speaker:there. So maybe we'll talk afterwards a little.
Speaker:>> Will Pearson: Bit, Will, it sounds great.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: That is great. And I think also as one of
Speaker:the partners with ctreadwell and
Speaker:as part of the tool community, I think you also
Speaker:have, upon request, some
Speaker:special campaigns on, if anybody else
Speaker:from the cruise sector in the audience are
Speaker:eager, to get up to
Speaker:speed and follow the lead of hx.
Speaker:>> Will Pearson: Absolutely. I mean we're open to collaboration, open
Speaker:to conversations and absolutely keen to explore
Speaker:and I think the exciting thing that Gebhart said there as
Speaker:well around these
Speaker:passengers, if we can connect them with the
Speaker:sustainability journey that that cruise company is
Speaker:taking, that HX expedition is taking, you know,
Speaker:they will actually act as ambassadors about that, you know,
Speaker:both on voyage but also afterwards, which I
Speaker:think is really, really cool.
Speaker:>> Gebhard Rainer: Yeah. And that's the part that we like very much because it feeds right
Speaker:into the educational aspect, which is one of the three
Speaker:pillars that we have as an organization. So we do as you
Speaker:rightfully said Birgit. We, we, we
Speaker:educate. Although we don't say to our passengers that we educate them,
Speaker:but we educate them on sustainability,
Speaker:on ocean plastics, on the effect
Speaker:ocean plastics have microplastics, that go into everything and
Speaker:everywhere and have them participate in beach
Speaker:cleanups. It's amazing when you go up to Svalbard and
Speaker:go to the northern parts of Greenland, as to how much
Speaker:plastic you find on the beaches there. And you would think, how
Speaker:does it get there? There's nobody living there. You know,
Speaker:there's no. Nobody, there's no roads where people
Speaker:throw garbage out of their windows from the cars.
Speaker:But it shows you, and this is again part of the
Speaker:education. It shows you the climate effect. It shows you
Speaker:where climate is made in the north and the south. And it shows you the
Speaker:ocean currents that carry all that around and drop
Speaker:it off in areas you would never expect it.
Speaker:We educate our passengers,
Speaker:as to how we recycle plastic in
Speaker:collaboration with small recycling companies, with
Speaker:companies like Ocean Bottle, and
Speaker:other small recycling companies where we
Speaker:rework these plastics into useful things
Speaker:again that that people can use and learn
Speaker:from.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: M. Yeah. And I really, really
Speaker:love that model. And I think in general
Speaker:it's something about us as humans when
Speaker:we start care for something, when we feel that this
Speaker:is personal, then we have a
Speaker:whole different ability to, to create
Speaker:change, of patterns and change our mindset.
Speaker:So I think there's such an still unused
Speaker:potential of driving this
Speaker:individual and collective change through
Speaker:inspiring and engaging
Speaker:guests and crew and people that we
Speaker:interact with in our value chain and in
Speaker:this you also bring people under the surface
Speaker:when they are joining onboard Brim. And you are really also
Speaker:a huge part of both like the environmental
Speaker:and educational experience for Ajax
Speaker:Expeditions. And I mean
Speaker:in your process now you already
Speaker:have surpassed like the first ambition. You have
Speaker:five ships out there
Speaker:sailing. but. And where are you now ahead of
Speaker:your targets? And what has been
Speaker:Brim's really most painful and
Speaker:challenging bottlenecks on the way?
Speaker:>> Agnes Arnadottir: That's a very good question. But before I answer that, I just want to
Speaker:elaborate a little bit on the previous topic because I, I find it
Speaker:very interesting. Gabard also the journey you have
Speaker:taken in, in HX and Hirstruten, and that's
Speaker:a journey we have also had from the beginning where,
Speaker:where we. My background is from an
Speaker:environmental, foundation, Palona foundation, where my
Speaker:job was to try to influence industry leaders and public Opinion
Speaker:and so on. So when we started Brim, we decided that we also
Speaker:wanted to use our boats as a platform to
Speaker:educate guests and inform them and try to
Speaker:influence their decisions. And that's I think the real
Speaker:power of tourism is basically when you have guests on board. They're
Speaker:open minded. So we can not only educate them but we can
Speaker:also give them tools and we can help steer consumption
Speaker:because in fact it's the consumption that is the
Speaker:big part of emissions and pollution.
Speaker:and if for instance ocean bottle can be an
Speaker:inherited part of of the journey and if that can be
Speaker:implemented in more places as a ah, substitute for
Speaker:all the millions or billions of the plastic bottles
Speaker:that some end up being recycled but
Speaker:most not then that's already like a huge
Speaker:step. So for us like
Speaker:having that as a guiding principle and when designing the
Speaker:tours. But also we don't have an industry meeting on board our
Speaker:vessels. We serve the lunches vegan
Speaker:because well everyone can eat that. And also it's the,
Speaker:it's the lowest possible carbon footprint you can have
Speaker:also in the consumption. So the totality
Speaker:makes this industry also very special I think because you have
Speaker:access to people, both their minds but also you
Speaker:can you can bring back something by, by influencing
Speaker:positively their, their consumption and the understanding
Speaker:of the importance of their own consumption. Which is
Speaker:basically the biggest challenge
Speaker:of the tourism industry. It's not how you arrive to a
Speaker:destination with a plane or a train. The biggest
Speaker:challenge is what you leave behind where you are.
Speaker:Is there any recycling opportunities? What are
Speaker:the purchasing options? And for instance being
Speaker:in Troms which is now a great destination
Speaker:with millions of guests, a
Speaker:year like yes, okay they have to fly there.
Speaker:But it's even more important that when they get there they understand that they
Speaker:can drink the tap water and don't buy the plastic bottle and that
Speaker:they don't bring home a lot of crap
Speaker:souvenirs made well in
Speaker:the, on the other side of the world. So we can, if
Speaker:we are really thinking about sustainability, we also have to think about
Speaker:what choices we, we give our, our
Speaker:guests. But okay, that was digression. on
Speaker:the, on the bottlenecks. Well
Speaker:I feel that there haven't really been any
Speaker:other next and bottlenecks
Speaker:as we go. But that's how innovation
Speaker:works. Of course the
Speaker:kind of the benefit of our innovation journey is
Speaker:that we have been innovating boats. We're operating ourselves.
Speaker:So for every boat we
Speaker:build, the more we Learn the more we can improve. With
Speaker:the final goal being optimizing
Speaker:and optimizing an electric sightseeing
Speaker:vessel basically. So a data vessel, not expedition but
Speaker:a vessel that goes 100 nautical miles a day
Speaker:preferably on one charge in reasonable speed.
Speaker:So that we can be for instance a substitute
Speaker:to the cruise operators
Speaker:offering smaller ah day
Speaker:tour excursions in addition to, to the other
Speaker:operation. So getting there has
Speaker:been challenging because the
Speaker:industry is conservative
Speaker:and getting a, a
Speaker:shipyard to, to agree on
Speaker:the, on our kind of design principles which
Speaker:has been electric by design meaning
Speaker:that every decision you make for the design of a
Speaker:vessel has to be made
Speaker:thinking about the weight and that the
Speaker:batteries you want on board, they are meant for taking the
Speaker:boat from A to B and not to drive all the hotel
Speaker:loads and all the other things. So range
Speaker:and efficiency. So that means that you cannot
Speaker:think as a regular diesel vessel. You have to think about where
Speaker:you place the components to reduce cabling, to reduce
Speaker:weight. You have to think about how much AC or,
Speaker:or heating you have and so on and so on.
Speaker:So just educating and we are two social scientists
Speaker:and a music teacher that founded Brim
Speaker:and Educate, educating all the engineers and the
Speaker:experts that okay we can do things differently if you
Speaker:just If we just think the electric by
Speaker:design first. That has taken a lot of time
Speaker:and the first boat was not perfect, not even close to
Speaker:perfect. The second was not either. We're getting
Speaker:closer. We have even developed our own
Speaker:components. The electric motor we have on board is a
Speaker:design by us, not produced by us. But we found
Speaker:a partner in Italy who has designed a very
Speaker:efficient electric motor. And now we're
Speaker:also designing the first solid state batteries for
Speaker:maritime sector together with another Italian company.
Speaker:And we're designing the power electronic units.
Speaker:And basically our goal is to have a complete
Speaker:driveline, a skateboard for a
Speaker:vessel between say 18 and 40 meters. That
Speaker:can be kind of long range and fast speed
Speaker:for day tours. So it's very
Speaker:exciting. the regulatory obstacles are
Speaker:still there but we have been,
Speaker:we in our experience, the
Speaker:regulatory authorities are also.
Speaker:>> Will Pearson: Understanding.
Speaker:>> Agnes Arnadottir: that reviewing existing regulations
Speaker:might be necessary when implementing new technology. So
Speaker:I think we're getting, getting somewhere. And ideally
Speaker:we'll continue to have good partners as for instance
Speaker:HX Expeditions in the future.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: And you're also open for
Speaker:teaming up with more actors in the sector.
Speaker:>> Agnes Arnadottir: Elsewhere in the world or
Speaker:100%. We have been looking for solutions outside of the
Speaker:maritime sector. And so for instance the
Speaker:electric motor is originally made for
Speaker:cable cars. and the batteries they
Speaker:were originally made for or they were thought for
Speaker:airplanes for instance. So we look at other sectors
Speaker:where we would need some more assistance in
Speaker:the future is when we want to integrate solar
Speaker:into the vessel design. So in the railings or in the
Speaker:roofs to, to be able to
Speaker:generate some additional energy while operating.
Speaker:We haven't come that far but that's one of the topics we want to solve
Speaker:and hopefully near, near future.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Thank you Agnes. And while I mean the Brim.
Speaker:>> Will Pearson: The Brim boats look at absolutely amazing. So I was going to say the
Speaker:Bremboats look absolutely amazing. You know, as well as being leading
Speaker:on sustainability they are. They are beautiful and it's been
Speaker:amazing to. To witness how you've built and scaled.
Speaker:>> Agnes Arnadottir: Yeah, thank you. My, my grandmother, she's 94
Speaker:and she thinks it doesn't even look like a boat.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: So she's not very impressed.
Speaker:Classic. And while Will and
Speaker:Agnes you're both a bit more mature in your
Speaker:commercial stage of your company. So it's a little earlier.
Speaker:Sylvia you're in the kind of moving from
Speaker:testing and pilot customers
Speaker:and over to the first commercial
Speaker:contracts and. And in. In that
Speaker:stage where you're just starting to get signed
Speaker:commercial contracts. What. What has been
Speaker:your bottlenecks in. In
Speaker:getting on board basically with more
Speaker:vessels.
Speaker:>> Sylvia Almelan: We have. Purewave is a really good
Speaker:product and You know I have
Speaker:Not many years ah background from this industry.
Speaker:So I have learned a lot on the way
Speaker:and You know it's a lot of things to
Speaker:understand in this industry.
Speaker:but m.
Speaker:I think we are very exciting
Speaker:because Bream,
Speaker:and the Fjords and
Speaker:all this company we have been talking to so
Speaker:far are really
Speaker:interesting and exciting
Speaker:about the product.
Speaker:So I feel very lucky.
Speaker:So we have always challenges and we
Speaker:have Working with new products
Speaker:now. So we have just Yeah,
Speaker:on these days we have four or five new
Speaker:products coming out.
Speaker:I cannot say so much now but You
Speaker:can just wait and see.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Yeah. And. And has your. Your
Speaker:key kind of bottleneck per now
Speaker:been been the access to companies
Speaker:and vessels to test the solution on
Speaker:board?
Speaker:>> Sylvia Almelan: Yes, of course. but you
Speaker:know Birgit Leoden
Speaker:have a lot of contacts and
Speaker:I am so happy for your
Speaker:help Birgit to
Speaker:introduce and helped me to get
Speaker:forward in this industry.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Thank you. And So
Speaker:Per today we have
Speaker:quite a broad range of
Speaker:innovators, you guys, from the large
Speaker:to the smaller and more
Speaker:newer aspect. And
Speaker:then I wanted to check in with you because I mean
Speaker:you are all creating triple P ripple
Speaker:effects when you are combining kind of
Speaker:these low hanging fruits of solutions that are
Speaker:enabling ocean friendly shift for the
Speaker:cruise pioneers while we wait for
Speaker:completely emission free ships. And
Speaker:now I wanted to hear from you as something to
Speaker:bring back to the audience and in very in a very
Speaker:like a few key words, do you
Speaker:each have one additional area where you have
Speaker:very clear commitments and where you are
Speaker:keen to partner up with an entrepreneur
Speaker:to power couple for a radical
Speaker:solution? Gebhart, I know that the
Speaker:foundation does a lot of great initiatives.
Speaker:Where is your area, where there is now room
Speaker:for more innovators on board with Ajax
Speaker:expedition?
Speaker:>> Gebhard Rainer: Yeah, I think two areas. One you mentioned is the foundation itself.
Speaker:The foundation is a very important part
Speaker:of what we do because it's the non profit extension that
Speaker:really reaches into communities that are
Speaker:remote, that need a
Speaker:responsible approach in terms of how we,
Speaker:we think about them and how we think about supporting
Speaker:them in their economic developments. It doesn't
Speaker:help if the cruise industry goes into these
Speaker:communities and says, you know, I
Speaker:bring you 2,000 people at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Can you
Speaker:put some singing song and bands up and I'll give you a thousand dollars for
Speaker:it. That destroys the identity,
Speaker:destroys the culture, it destroys the community and it creates a lot
Speaker:of animosity. And you can see some of that
Speaker:more and more appearing now because of mass tourism where
Speaker:local communities are standing up and say enough is enough.
Speaker:We just don't want it anymore. Tourism
Speaker:is important because it is for many
Speaker:communities it's the quickest way of economic development.
Speaker:But it needs to be done responsibly.
Speaker:Responsibly. To the extent that we in
Speaker:tourism we need to understand what
Speaker:is actually useful, helpful and make sense
Speaker:for these communities. what do they need
Speaker:that allows them to retain and
Speaker:protect their integrity and their culture but
Speaker:at the same time develop an
Speaker:infrastructure, an economic base that
Speaker:allows them to continue having their
Speaker:communities. The biggest issue in
Speaker:remote communities is often that the youth
Speaker:leaves these communities and looks for
Speaker:opportunities and prosperity because there's unemployment. There is
Speaker:just no hope or future left when you live
Speaker:in a place that's seven months of the year locked off
Speaker:because of natural circumstances, the
Speaker:weather. So that's one area
Speaker:where the foundation is very
Speaker:important because we use the foundation to go in and to explore
Speaker:and to find out and have these communications that feed
Speaker:them back to us and allows us to
Speaker:have a very different and a responsible
Speaker:approach in how we visit these communities. The second
Speaker:area of focus for me is on the
Speaker:ships themselves and Agnes has mentioned
Speaker:something before and that is a real trigger
Speaker:for me as well. And that's the consumption,
Speaker:amount of consumption and the wastefulness that
Speaker:we in the civilized societies
Speaker:have become accustomed
Speaker:to. We don't think about loading up
Speaker:our plate with food and leaving halfway on it and throwing it
Speaker:away. It's just because it's there and it's
Speaker:being served and we don't think about the source of
Speaker:where it comes from. And it all sounds easy
Speaker:but the difficulty there is, and it goes back again to
Speaker:reaching out in educating
Speaker:communities. It's
Speaker:when you are in more remote areas where we, where
Speaker:we embark from.
Speaker:We try to buy as much local as we can, which is
Speaker:not always easy because you're dealing with very small farm
Speaker:communities who don't have the training or the
Speaker:understanding as to why a certain consistency
Speaker:in production and a year round quantity is
Speaker:very important. In order to do business it
Speaker:has to be reliable. You
Speaker:can't launch a ship from Ushuaia into
Speaker:Antarctica on the hope that there is
Speaker:enough food available for you to buy locally. You
Speaker:can't stop along the way and walk down a
Speaker:street to a supermarket to buy what you
Speaker:forgot or what you didn't get because there is nothing. You
Speaker:go into areas where there is nothing, you can't resupply,
Speaker:you can't fly supplies in. So you've got to make sure your
Speaker:local supply chain is
Speaker:intact and as sustainable as
Speaker:possible. So we are working with local communities
Speaker:and local regional governments trying to educate, trying to
Speaker:help them, trying to find out what can we do to provide
Speaker:them with in order for them
Speaker:to in sort of a co op like
Speaker:arrangement, come up with ideas
Speaker:and collaborative work that allows them to
Speaker:have a variety of supplies in a consistent
Speaker:manner throughout the year that supplies the industry
Speaker:that needs it from the port
Speaker:there. Not helpful for us if we have the flying
Speaker:container loads of produce into
Speaker:these locations in order to supply our ships.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Definitely. And I also understood that
Speaker:with the new structure of Ajax foundation that you are
Speaker:also looking more into
Speaker:delivering on your value commitment
Speaker:by also supporting local
Speaker:entrepreneurs with non dilutive capital
Speaker:which is I think a great
Speaker:opportunity on how to use
Speaker:these kind of supportive and more
Speaker:philanthropic resources. So I think
Speaker:that's quite amazing and really, really important
Speaker:for any relevant innovator out there. And I think
Speaker:you have your next deadline for applying is
Speaker:around May this year. May and November each year.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:>> Gebhard Rainer: Yes. So we have two sides to that. One is
Speaker:where we allow, small local enterprises,
Speaker:innovators to apply for funding. We're very happy to
Speaker:fund because there is a lot of, creativity that comes out of
Speaker:it. And then we have given the authority to our ship
Speaker:captains for a rapid response fund. When
Speaker:they go into local remote communities, they have the authority
Speaker:to spend on the spot a thousand euros if there is
Speaker:a need for it. And they can see a benefit that helps
Speaker:the local community there. And that has actually been
Speaker:really well received by the communities
Speaker:because it's uncomplicated, there's no bureaucracy to it.
Speaker:It's immediate effect. It's right there.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Thank you. And Will, how is
Speaker:it with your unresolved pain points, are there
Speaker:any where you want to team up with other,
Speaker:innovators in your supply chain?
Speaker:>> Will Pearson: Yeah. So our company really is built
Speaker:on partnerships. so we're always looking
Speaker:for new partnerships with,
Speaker:plastic collection organization, you know,
Speaker:companies that we can invest in and help scale the
Speaker:projects that they are, doing on the ground.
Speaker:So yeah, we're always, always on the lookout for more
Speaker:projects that we can help scale. and then on the
Speaker:other side, you know, flipping the coin the other way
Speaker:in terms of power couples, you know, I think to put
Speaker:some numbers into sort of words into
Speaker:numbers, sorry, around the partnership with HX and the impact that
Speaker:that's actually helped deliver. If you don't mind, Gab
Speaker:Hart. So our partnership to date has funded
Speaker:a collection of million, kilograms of
Speaker:ocean on plastic, which is a huge milestone for us
Speaker:already. that's equivalent to over 90
Speaker:million plastic bottles in weight.
Speaker:and that we've been able to achieve that by putting
Speaker:the products in the hands of around 90,000
Speaker:passengers. I think what's really exciting as well
Speaker:is not only has it had that impact on Ocean Plastic,
Speaker:I mean it's allowing us to scale up our
Speaker:investment in the plastic collection projects themselves.
Speaker:But sort of since offering the products, it's seen a
Speaker:huge upt in product sales through their
Speaker:retail around Ocean Bottle, but also just
Speaker:how they've embedded the storytelling within
Speaker:the passenger experience. So having a joint
Speaker:partnership video in the cabins, offering up a
Speaker:map of reefer locations on board the ship is all
Speaker:really incredible stuff, that we've been able to
Speaker:do in partnership. So I think
Speaker:power couples are the way forward. and I think a
Speaker:lot can be achieved in twos.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: That's amazing. And that's 1 million
Speaker:kilos in less than a year since you
Speaker:launched the.
Speaker:>> Will Pearson: Yeah, correct. We launched it's been in the works for a
Speaker:while the project. We've been doing a lot of collaboration behind
Speaker:the scenes making sure the design is
Speaker:right for HX and their customers and
Speaker:But yeah that's the impact we've been able to generate
Speaker:just since publicly launching in July last year.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Wow. So I see a huge potential for
Speaker:large cruise corporates. And you guys moving
Speaker:onwards. Agnes, on your
Speaker:end, what is your key pain
Speaker:points where you can see
Speaker:the eager opportunity and interest to team up
Speaker:with other innovators?
Speaker:>> Agnes Arnadottir: Well as I mentioned before I think the largest pain
Speaker:points for the longer reach and perhaps some
Speaker:small some small expedition vessels in the future like
Speaker:24 meter or, or vessels that are used
Speaker:for more than just short day tours. It's basically
Speaker:how to generate sustainable energy on board.
Speaker:So solar and wind generated energy.
Speaker:yeah, yeah. We have been looking at solar
Speaker:sales and and different innovations. It's
Speaker:not quite mature yet. We have done some
Speaker:some drawings or sketches ourselves. But
Speaker:I would be very happy if if anyone that has that is
Speaker:working on like a smaller scale solutions for this
Speaker:would, would reach out.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Thank you Agnes. That
Speaker:is a perfect outreach to the
Speaker:regenerative energy innovators out there that
Speaker:are listening and Sylvie, on
Speaker:your end, I mean you, you deliver a solution for,
Speaker:for Agnes to reduce toxic
Speaker:elements coming out into ocean and affecting
Speaker:ocean life. But where is your pain
Speaker:point this
Speaker:time?
Speaker:>> Sylvia Almelan: It's I am looking for manufacturer
Speaker:I think it had to be quite innovative
Speaker:because we need to have better
Speaker:packaging solution for a pure
Speaker:WAVES product.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: So replacing the petro based packaging
Speaker:for your liquids.
Speaker:>> Sylvia Almelan: Yes, it is extremely important
Speaker:for us to choose patching that
Speaker:is as
Speaker:environmentally friendly as possible.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Great, thank you. Then we have
Speaker:a ah last quick question to all of you
Speaker:before we round off. Because of course we all
Speaker:have different challenges and bottlenecks and opportunities
Speaker:ahead. But all of this boils down
Speaker:to getting the right people on board.
Speaker:CTRADE has a great initiative focused on
Speaker:tomorrow's talents today. and as we need
Speaker:great humans on board with loads of different
Speaker:backgrounds and capabilities to build the future of
Speaker:cruise, I wanted to hear from
Speaker:each of you if you can share
Speaker:either your Personal hack or advice
Speaker:to fellow talents and industry
Speaker:colleagues, or if you could share
Speaker:a specific skill set or mindset that you
Speaker:consider key. For any talents out there
Speaker:who are eager to join the cruise pioneer
Speaker:movement, Gebhard, you go
Speaker:first.
Speaker:>> Gebhard Rainer: I think the most important thing is of course, passion. You have to
Speaker:believe in what you do, you have to
Speaker:believe in what you can achieve and you have to believe in the fact
Speaker:that if there's another human being that can do something,
Speaker:then you can do it as well. So always reach for the stars.
Speaker:Believe in yourself. Be who you are and follow through. Have
Speaker:the stamina and have the determination to do what
Speaker:you believe in. In today's world there are so many
Speaker:obstacles. We have created a lot more
Speaker:complexity that is really not necessary.
Speaker:We have created a lot of bureaucracy and red tape
Speaker:and there's always somebody who will say,
Speaker:yeah, but this will never work.
Speaker:Don't let people discourage you.
Speaker:Follow through and be persistent because
Speaker:you will find people out there who are
Speaker:mindful, like minded and who
Speaker:will partner and who will come up with opportunities and
Speaker:solutions that eventually work. And I think the proof
Speaker:of that is here. When you look at what Will has done with
Speaker:Ocean Bottle and what Agnes and, and her
Speaker:partners have done with Brim and what Solvi is
Speaker:doing with Pure Wave, it's
Speaker:fantastic. And conversations like this, they
Speaker:build networks and you know,
Speaker:just listening, you get ideas that
Speaker:you can further explore and you have more conversations and you
Speaker:introduce other people to it. And before you know it,
Speaker:a three way conversation has become a 50 people group
Speaker:that is suddenly pulling on the same string.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Thank you Gebhard. That is a really
Speaker:great set of reflections. Will,
Speaker:your five cents.
Speaker:>> Will Pearson: Yeah, I would definitely echo what Gebhardt
Speaker:has just said. I think you know, if you can find a
Speaker:challenge within the cruise industry or beyond,
Speaker:where you think there's an entrepreneurial opportunity, you
Speaker:know, go and take it. And you know, I think the
Speaker:impact that you can make, both you know, for the environment
Speaker:and for future generations, but also
Speaker:economically can be, can be huge. So I would
Speaker:definitely encourage you to do that. And if, you know, if you're not
Speaker:looking to become an entrepreneur, if you don't want to take on that
Speaker:challenge because it can be quite daunting,
Speaker:daunting at times. There's huge impact
Speaker:that you can make within the cruise companies. You know,
Speaker:you've got leading companies like HX who are
Speaker:ah, way ahead of the trend, but also massive
Speaker:organizations where there's A lot of great work to be done.
Speaker:So I think, you know, as individuals we often
Speaker:discount what we can accomplish. But I think actually through
Speaker:our work, you know, we can really unlock ah, a lot
Speaker:of impact. So yeah, that's what I would, I would
Speaker:say.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Thank you, Will. Agnes.
Speaker:>> Agnes Arnadottir: Yes, thank you. Firstly, I just want
Speaker:to encourage everyone to experience the
Speaker:Antarctic, the Arctic, experience what
Speaker:we basically should all be caring about. It's
Speaker:by experiencing that you really get the compassion
Speaker:for nature. And also of course, ocean bottle.
Speaker:I gave my whole family an ocean bottle, several years ago
Speaker:for Christmas. And I have mine still. It's it's
Speaker:those small steps that in the end will, will
Speaker:decide whether we manage to
Speaker:impact and, and change the negative
Speaker:spiral that unfortunately both environment and climate,
Speaker:are in. And for the, for the
Speaker:personal talent or mindset, I think
Speaker:the courage to challenge the established,
Speaker:we need a radical change and, and it's not necessarily
Speaker:comfortable. And we need to keep
Speaker:the spirit up even though it feels
Speaker:overwhelming. But I mean step by step the
Speaker:solutions will be there and we need to
Speaker:practice what we preach. Maybe the most important message
Speaker:here. we all have to start with ourselves and if
Speaker:not the next generation will have hard time forgiving
Speaker:us.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Yeah. Thank you, Agnes.
Speaker:Sylvie, you get to share your
Speaker:reflections.
Speaker:>> Sylvia Almelan: Yes. I think it's We need to have a
Speaker:why. I need to have a why and
Speaker:my why is very clear
Speaker:and it's hard
Speaker:but I think it's quite important
Speaker:to know the why and work
Speaker:hard. It's not
Speaker:easy and try to connect
Speaker:with good people,
Speaker:people who want the same as
Speaker:you and I want, and
Speaker:seeking for people with
Speaker:more experience.
Speaker:And there is so much lovely
Speaker:people out there
Speaker:and they want to help us.
Speaker:We just need to find the right people.
Speaker:As the Gebhad say, a lot of.
Speaker:So follow your heart,
Speaker:never give up and do
Speaker:changes.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodon: Thank you, Sylvie. So we have
Speaker:to round off this first episode of
Speaker:the cruise Pioneers. I think by now
Speaker:people are well aware what a power
Speaker:couple is actually all about. And for the
Speaker:next show series moving towards sea trade in
Speaker:Miami in April and then onwards to
Speaker:Hamburg, and in the fall. We are
Speaker:really, really looking forward now to bring you
Speaker:into the depth and the world of these
Speaker:amazing power couples that are changing our
Speaker:industry, making it future fit and
Speaker:as I would say, making it an
Speaker:incredibly exciting path
Speaker:for anyone who has an entrepreneur
Speaker:or ocean maritime professional in their
Speaker:belly. So thank you. To all of you for
Speaker:joining us today. And for the rest of the audience out
Speaker:there, stay tuned. We will soon be back with
Speaker:another episode. Thank you.
Speaker:>> Agnes Arnadottir: Thank you.
