Episode 3
Cruise Pioneers | Powered by Nature, Fueled by Women
In this episode of Cruise Pioneers, host Birgit Liodden is joined by Sophie Galvagnon, serial entrepreneur, polar captain, CEO of Selar Polar Expeditions—the first Arctic expedition cruise line founded by a woman.
Sophie shares her remarkable journey from being the youngest captain decorated with the French maritime merits to pioneering a new, sustainable way to explore the Arctic. She discusses the challenges and triumphs of leading an expedition cruise company with a strong environmental and social mission, emphasising the importance of diversity, innovation, and responsible tourism.
Join us as we navigate the evolving landscape of the cruise industry through Sophie’s eyes, exploring how bold leadership and forward-thinking solutions can drive meaningful change in some of the world’s most fragile ecosystems.
Tune in for an inspiring conversation about breaking barriers, redefining adventure, and shaping the future of sustainable Arctic 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
Transcript
>> Birgit Liodden: Welcome to the Cruise Pioneers podcast by
Speaker:tool, hosted on, Seatrade Cruise Talks
Speaker:Podcasts.
Speaker:Hello, I'm Birgit Liodin, Sustainability ambassador
Speaker:of Seatrade Trade and founder of the Ocean Opportunity
Speaker:Lab. In this new series we will dive into the
Speaker:pioneering initiatives of cruise lines and entrepreneurs
Speaker:who move and change the cruise industry. We focus
Speaker:on real life frontrunner initiatives and power
Speaker:couples enabling crews to move
Speaker:from pollution to solution. Get on board our
Speaker:shared expedition as we get behind the scenes
Speaker:and explore how owners, founders and
Speaker:top executives move from vision to
Speaker:deployment. In today's episode, we
Speaker:dive in with Sophie Galvanon,
Speaker:serial entrepreneur and polar captain.
Speaker:Sophie is the CEO and co founder of Cellar
Speaker:Expeditions, the first Arctic expedition cruise
Speaker:line. Fueled by nature and founded
Speaker:by a woman. Sophie is a maritime
Speaker:explorer and entrepreneur. She's renowned as the
Speaker:youngest captain, decorated with the French maritime
Speaker:merits and with a decade of experience
Speaker:navigating the challenging waters over the Arctic,
Speaker:she has established herself as the first
Speaker:French woman officer, an icebreaker,
Speaker:an ice pilot and captain of different
Speaker:polar expedition ships. Welcome
Speaker:Sophie and I'm so excited to celebrate
Speaker:the International Women's Week and have you
Speaker:joining, sharing your voyage and your
Speaker:experiences with our audience.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: Thank you Birgit, thank you for inviting me. I'm
Speaker:excited too and happy to share any type
Speaker:of stories, whether it's on the field side or on
Speaker:the managing side.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: And Sophie, let's start with your pioneer
Speaker:commitment because in this podcast
Speaker:we ask all of our guests to introduce, you
Speaker:know, their high level targets for an emission
Speaker:free and waste free cruise industry and building
Speaker:the competitive edge for what we call
Speaker:a future proof industry. And I'm so
Speaker:excited, you know, to dive in and
Speaker:really explore more about your own personal journey
Speaker:in this and can you share with us since
Speaker:you know, from younger age, what is it that
Speaker:has fueled your own journey that
Speaker:led you through your adventures and
Speaker:gradually establishing Celar.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: So I'm lucky to be half French,
Speaker:half Swedish and I spent all
Speaker:my winters in Sweden as I, as a child
Speaker:and I had already back then a strong
Speaker:attraction for the cold areas, the snow,
Speaker:the ice, you know, it, how the
Speaker:Scandinavian winters are. And, and
Speaker:my dad was a seaman too. He was
Speaker:a captain on big fishing,
Speaker:ships. So I guess that I
Speaker:was inspired, since the childhood from
Speaker:him and his stories at sea.
Speaker:And actually after high
Speaker:school I wanted to do something
Speaker:of my own hands so I didn't want
Speaker:to sit in front of a computer too fast, and
Speaker:I wanted to discover the world. So seemed
Speaker:like going at sea was an evidence.
Speaker:But even though I spent almost all my
Speaker:career on polar expedition ships, it's not
Speaker:like that. I started, I started to work on
Speaker:container ships, on cargo ships,
Speaker:ferries. But the first time
Speaker:I sailed in Antarctica it was on
Speaker:a big passenger ships and
Speaker:I had like a heart crush on the first iceberg
Speaker:I saw. And you know, it's like when you have a
Speaker:hard crash on a person you meet then you know it's
Speaker:going to be full in and that your entire
Speaker:life and what burns inside you
Speaker:is going to commit for that. So
Speaker:I already, at the time it was 2008,
Speaker:I was not that much aligned with the
Speaker:big cruise model in
Speaker:visiting such wild areas with
Speaker:almost no human trace. So, so
Speaker:I went back to Sweden where they have a
Speaker:much bigger expert fleet for polar
Speaker:navigation. And I started to work
Speaker:wintertime on Swedish state
Speaker:icebreakers where I learned the technique
Speaker:and state of the art of ice navigation.
Speaker:And summertime I combined it with
Speaker:small polar expedition ships that I was
Speaker:captaining in Svalbard. And
Speaker:there I learn a lot of things.
Speaker:Firstly I learn to reconnect with the
Speaker:tourism industry, to reconnect with
Speaker:it because when it's done the good way you
Speaker:can really have an impact on the people and wake
Speaker:awareness and be respectful on the
Speaker:environment you visit. And
Speaker:also as a captain and I would say for the Siemens
Speaker:skill, what's exceptional in those areas is that there are
Speaker:still undiscovered areas. So
Speaker:you really go back to this exploration
Speaker:feeling and it's quite challenging actually.
Speaker:It's challenging navigation because you have to
Speaker:go back to the basics. It's
Speaker:not that many data, you're off
Speaker:grid most of the time and have to rely on
Speaker:your own. So I learned a lot
Speaker:and I did more than 100
Speaker:expeditions up there. I started the
Speaker:first business up there based on that small
Speaker:scale tourism model. But
Speaker:two, three years ago I started to work on
Speaker:Celar, which was aiming to
Speaker:bring something new and something different.
Speaker:I've always had it. Now my red
Speaker:line was to bring an alternative and something
Speaker:different. I insist in that because
Speaker:today the tourism industry in the
Speaker:Arctic has been quite
Speaker:damaging the environment
Speaker:and so some disruptive changes was
Speaker:needed. Also in the emergency state
Speaker:we all know about climate change
Speaker:and also because I would say that I'm
Speaker:both bold enough to try to bring some
Speaker:different things and also I have a small
Speaker:crazy creative part and I started to find
Speaker:it quite boring to see the that the big,
Speaker:bigger model were almost all the same and the
Speaker:Smaller model were almost all the same. So I thought, okay,
Speaker:maybe there's also something new to be done
Speaker:on the brand side of things and on the
Speaker:voyage form. And so it was the right
Speaker:timing to launch sela, which
Speaker:has the ambition to
Speaker:really shift the cruise industry
Speaker:into something more sustainable
Speaker:and to position itself with
Speaker:a real adventure spirit.
Speaker:so Celar is experiential
Speaker:luxury, small scale, sustainable
Speaker:adventure in the polar areas.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: And that's so exciting on this
Speaker:path. There are so many changes that are maybe
Speaker:easier to test out and experiment
Speaker:with as a smaller operator
Speaker:that can then inspire the big players onwards,
Speaker:which is I think a really important
Speaker:pioneering role. And I wonder if you can
Speaker:also tell our audience a little bit more
Speaker:about how you are focused on
Speaker:reducing your own scope one emissions
Speaker:and which other type of decisions and innovative
Speaker:choices that you have done in the process
Speaker:of establishing now to support positive ah,
Speaker:impact on ocean life.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: So in order to reach our target, to bring
Speaker:something new, I thought that
Speaker:we had to rethink everything
Speaker:because having been in the
Speaker:sector for the past decade, you know, you
Speaker:always have some implemented input in your
Speaker:head. So I thought, okay, we have to start from
Speaker:a blank page with this goal of
Speaker:bringing something new and something
Speaker:that makes profitability coping with
Speaker:sustainability. One way to
Speaker:sustainability is the ship that
Speaker:should be as close as possible to
Speaker:zero carbon. And that was like an
Speaker:evidence. But to reach that target
Speaker:you cannot have it disconnected
Speaker:from the way you use the ship.
Speaker:So meaning that we had to rethink
Speaker:the way we cruise, the way we do polar
Speaker:expeditions today. And
Speaker:maybe it was not the good way or maybe it
Speaker:was. So we took all hypothesis and
Speaker:then we tried to make it cope with a sustainable
Speaker:ship. And we landed on the fact
Speaker:that if you want to reach real
Speaker:zero carbon emission from the supply
Speaker:chain to the output, so meaning being
Speaker:powered by nature, because we are lucky at sea to have
Speaker:both wind and sun, which are fabulous
Speaker:energies, then you have to
Speaker:go small size, because small
Speaker:size means small ship, a
Speaker:light ship. And a small and light ship can be
Speaker:powered by nature and you can
Speaker:reach that balance. And actually
Speaker:for us it was also
Speaker:perfect for our positioning in
Speaker:client experience because what we offer is promises
Speaker:of a lifetime and high ended
Speaker:experiential luxury. And that goes
Speaker:through intimacy, through exclusivity
Speaker:and also goes back to small size.
Speaker:So our first series of ship
Speaker:is designed for ships that are 70
Speaker:metre long only. They have
Speaker:five sails of 35 metres.
Speaker:There are rigid sails in aluminium
Speaker:covered with 20,000ft
Speaker:square metre solar panels.
Speaker:And most of the time this is enough
Speaker:to power the entire ship
Speaker:and transport our
Speaker:36 passengers and 24
Speaker:crew. So
Speaker:we've now the first ship is
Speaker:currently being built. We had the keel laying last
Speaker:November and she will be delivered
Speaker:20, 2026 and start her
Speaker:expeditions in the arctic end of 26.
Speaker:And a second ship now a sister ship is
Speaker:in the track to follow this path
Speaker:because we've been lucky to
Speaker:be confirmed that there is a rising
Speaker:interest for such travel.
Speaker:Meaning sustainability, small
Speaker:scale and tailor made
Speaker:client experience up there that is
Speaker:so exciting.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: And I feel this is also what I hear around the industry
Speaker:is like the new megatrend really
Speaker:for a different type of a
Speaker:new scope and a new target groups of passengers with
Speaker:different interest areas, that also really
Speaker:ties in well, sustainable financial
Speaker:business and the right choices for
Speaker:nature and humans. And Sophie, now you
Speaker:talked about the size of the ship, the main
Speaker:energy drivers. Are there any
Speaker:other innovative and different
Speaker:approaches that you have done also working
Speaker:towards circular models,
Speaker:a waste free, emission free industry
Speaker:beyond these, energy drivers?
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: Yeah, for sure. As I mentioned it's a really
Speaker:global approach. We had starting from a
Speaker:blank page. So there was
Speaker:both the technique, the ship and I
Speaker:mentioned the sails because they are visible and
Speaker:obvious. But actually there is a declination
Speaker:of more than 10 innovations,
Speaker:technology innovation inside the ship that helps
Speaker:lower the power needs and
Speaker:enhancing the efficiency of the
Speaker:power regeneration. But I will not
Speaker:dive too much into details. there's a lot
Speaker:on our website or you could ask for more
Speaker:in the seat. Right. But as you
Speaker:mentioned it's important to zoom out
Speaker:also and to think
Speaker:about the impact you have by operating a
Speaker:ship in those environments so
Speaker:locally and to give back to the local
Speaker:ecosystem. Because often in those
Speaker:wild areas you
Speaker:arrive as a ship owner with your
Speaker:ship, that is flagged somewhere else with passengers
Speaker:that comes and go and not
Speaker:necessarily give back to this ecosystem while
Speaker:they profit of it. So we
Speaker:thought we have to make some
Speaker:balance in it and that's why we've built
Speaker:some beyond tourism programmes. Meaning
Speaker:that in the Arctic what we found useful or
Speaker:how our ship could help locally was
Speaker:through research. So we have a science
Speaker:lab on board and we can host scientists and we can
Speaker:also help with logistics
Speaker:support for local institutes. We also
Speaker:have some plastic removal, campaign
Speaker:because yeah, plastic is a disease
Speaker:that reaches even those remote areas.
Speaker:So we had to contribute and
Speaker:to help clean all those places. And
Speaker:we have an objective of 5
Speaker:tonnes removal a year per ship and then
Speaker:that is actions
Speaker:and regarding collaboration we
Speaker:would like to work hand in hand
Speaker:with local government on
Speaker:regulation changes
Speaker:and we are an operator that is
Speaker:aligned with the more stricter rules, aligned
Speaker:with more restriction of the tourism and
Speaker:how it should be done tomorrow.
Speaker:So we think that the world of tomorrow is
Speaker:not to fight against more regulation but
Speaker:to accompany ah those regulation and make it
Speaker:cope both for business and the
Speaker:environment. And of course we
Speaker:will work with local employment
Speaker:and female empowerment and that you know very well
Speaker:as we will work hand in hand with the
Speaker:tool on that point.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: And I think I really hope that other cruise
Speaker:executives out there listening in will also
Speaker:really make the chance of getting to know
Speaker:you and fuel their inspiration
Speaker:and innovation perspectives.
Speaker:Also together with a smaller new
Speaker:player as yourself. I'm so curious
Speaker:because I mean you already you financed your first
Speaker:ship, it's being built and then
Speaker:I'm curious and I think our audiences as well on the current
Speaker:progress because I mean it is a complex project that you
Speaker:are embarking on. it's a challenging adventure
Speaker:basically. Can you tell us more in
Speaker:depth like openly about the
Speaker:status and the plan onwards and you
Speaker:know where are you ahead of targets and where is it
Speaker:that you have met and experienced the most
Speaker:challenging bottlenecks and
Speaker:you know issues so far.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: So as you mentioned it's full of challenges
Speaker:but already as I was a captain I'd say I was
Speaker:allergic to the routine and I was seeking for
Speaker:more challenges and I see a lot of
Speaker:parallels between being captain
Speaker:and entrepreneur. So I was
Speaker:welcoming those challenges. But for sure we
Speaker:didn't choose the easy way because our
Speaker:target was to be a ship owner that
Speaker:handled all in house meaning that
Speaker:we've developed together with a naval architect
Speaker:the design of this ship that is full of innovation.
Speaker:So it's starting with a non standard
Speaker:ship, starting from scratch and
Speaker:a really capex intensive
Speaker:business. So we had to raise the
Speaker:funds to build the first ship starting with
Speaker:a PowerPoint and also
Speaker:then we choose to operate and travel with a
Speaker:new model. So it's also a commercial challenge
Speaker:to convince people that the future within
Speaker:the luxury of sustainable travel will look like
Speaker:that and to make them
Speaker:embark in your vision and then for
Speaker:sure is the challenge to deliver. And
Speaker:I would say it took us three years
Speaker:to hold that. Three years. With my team I have
Speaker:two co founders that are also serial
Speaker:entrepreneurs and we were
Speaker:working yeah 24 hours.
Speaker:77 but we like that. And
Speaker:I would say that the biggest challenges Was to
Speaker:race as a new operator in this world where
Speaker:you already have some big companies
Speaker:with established standards and
Speaker:I would say standards of operations, standards of
Speaker:profitability and standards of ship.
Speaker:So it's always a challenge to convince
Speaker:finances that it can also go
Speaker:well, another way. I
Speaker:think that was maybe
Speaker:the hardest part because as I
Speaker:said we started from scratch. But
Speaker:I have to say that we had to fight against the
Speaker:bad reputation of the cruise industry. Today,
Speaker:at least in Europe, cruise has a
Speaker:very bad reputation both by the
Speaker:consumers, so the clients and the people
Speaker:as well as in some states and
Speaker:ports. And so we had to do some
Speaker:pedagogy to show that the cruise
Speaker:industry can also be transformed. And it's
Speaker:important to shift this industry
Speaker:into more sustainability because as
Speaker:a reminder, the
Speaker:maritime sector is the most pollutant one
Speaker:after the aviation sector and the cruise
Speaker:is part of the maritime transport.
Speaker:So we have to make this effort in this
Speaker:sector and people will not cease to
Speaker:travel. This is a false belief. I mean
Speaker:it's more and more travellers and since before
Speaker:the Greeks we started to explore by sea and
Speaker:travel by sea. So it's important
Speaker:to give it a new face. I
Speaker:would say that today also a ship that is
Speaker:an Inovan ship and non pollute chip
Speaker:is about 40% more
Speaker:expensive than normal chip. So
Speaker:you have to convince people to invest
Speaker:in that effort and that it will
Speaker:be giving back by a model that is then credited
Speaker:on the commercial side and makes the business run.
Speaker:And lucky enough this bargain
Speaker:was checked because only within five
Speaker:months we had 75%
Speaker:sold of the capacity of the first ship which
Speaker:makes us able to now go on the projection for the
Speaker:fleet growth. And yeah, also
Speaker:maybe I could add that the technological
Speaker:challenges is of course one hard
Speaker:piece. And today I
Speaker:would say the certification chain, when you
Speaker:have technological innovation is
Speaker:so long and
Speaker:digs into so m many risk assessment
Speaker:and details and so on that it requires a lot
Speaker:of energy to keep on and to be
Speaker:convinced that it's the right way to do it and then to
Speaker:implement all the changes that are
Speaker:required. And so it's a
Speaker:long road. But on the other hand it's also
Speaker:securing as a ship owner and operator that
Speaker:all those milestone checks are
Speaker:made on the new technologies so that
Speaker:you then sail with a safe ship.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: I think this cruise
Speaker:Pioneers is Tool's collaborative mission to track
Speaker:frontrunner initiatives moving global crews from
Speaker:pollution to solution. We focus on
Speaker:the bold, large and small players at the
Speaker:forefront of Driving green, clean and
Speaker:circular initiatives to inspire others to follow
Speaker:their path. Sign up with us on
Speaker:community toolspawn.com to
Speaker:nominate your your cruise pioneer initiative or explore
Speaker:already featured pioneers.
Speaker:This is going to be a very very exciting
Speaker:journey to follow close moving
Speaker:onwards. I mean when you are
Speaker:tackling bottlenecks and different challenges on the
Speaker:way. In this series we have a lot of
Speaker:focus on what we call the power couple
Speaker:dynamics where we focus on
Speaker:how we can enable and match the
Speaker:actors to support each other across the
Speaker:value chain and where we that one
Speaker:player's target or challenge is the other
Speaker:actor's business case. And we
Speaker:are you know very much eager and
Speaker:aiming to explore where
Speaker:the pioneers of Kruse are creating
Speaker:what we call the triple P ripple effects. How
Speaker:we can tap into the low hanging
Speaker:fruits and existing
Speaker:stakeholders to enable these ocean friendly
Speaker:solutions for the cruise pioneers to
Speaker:change the industry from the inside. Can you share
Speaker:with us some examples of such
Speaker:interactive partnerships that you as
Speaker:a entrepreneur but also as ship owner
Speaker:how you are building your first
Speaker:ship and establishing partnerships
Speaker:with other innovators.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: It's a team story when you start to build
Speaker:the shipping company and as you mentioned it's important
Speaker:to collaborate on a lot of things. You
Speaker:can not do everything on your own.
Speaker:With this project with Celor and in
Speaker:particular with the we had to collaborate
Speaker:and exchange a lot with other
Speaker:innovators most of them were
Speaker:engineers for example for the
Speaker:sales we had to exchange a lot with
Speaker:existing technologies and the
Speaker:solution that was brought by our naval architect that
Speaker:is now installed about cellar. This
Speaker:means collaboration on data and analysis
Speaker:on M data but not only it also means to
Speaker:go and reach out to other ship owners that have
Speaker:installed other technologies and check about their
Speaker:feedback about how they use the
Speaker:ship with usas if it can be compared to our
Speaker:model or not. And I was
Speaker:positively surprised I would say by the
Speaker:collaboration that we have at least in France in
Speaker:between new co ship owners.
Speaker:We collaborate and compete in
Speaker:the way that we exchange a lot
Speaker:and this exchanges
Speaker:nourishes all our sectors and
Speaker:we all grow up by that by
Speaker:sharing. And what I hope now is that
Speaker:we'll be able to extend that
Speaker:collaboration range overseas
Speaker:because I think that the maritime transport
Speaker:is worldwide and when you're small player
Speaker:and we are starting small but we hope
Speaker:to lead the way for the small
Speaker:cruise industry tomorrow you may be
Speaker:less accessible to bigger
Speaker:operators and I think they have
Speaker:important feedback to give us and they
Speaker:have an important insight also of the
Speaker:business and the industry that can nourish the
Speaker:smaller crew. The smaller crews, sorry,
Speaker:and maybe the smaller crews has also much
Speaker:more flexibility and adaptability to test
Speaker:things that can then be
Speaker:maybe scaled up for the larger cruise
Speaker:industry.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: That's a really great perspective and
Speaker:I think commitment, I think the fueling the
Speaker:power of true collaboration. And then
Speaker:I'm very curious to hear about your.
Speaker:I mean you are well on track.
Speaker:the ship is being built, you are Getting onwards
Speaker:toward 2026 and launching
Speaker:the First Lady. And then I
Speaker:wonder about your existing
Speaker:unresolved pain points. I would like to hear
Speaker:which additional area or areas
Speaker:where you have very clear commitments,
Speaker:where you don't, you know, yet
Speaker:have the solution or made the selection
Speaker:and where you are interested in
Speaker:partnering up with other entrepreneurs in the
Speaker:supply chain to power couple for
Speaker:radical solutions.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: So for sure we've made some
Speaker:disruptive choices regarding the
Speaker:technological fitting of the ship.
Speaker:But we've implemented everything keeping
Speaker:in mind that the ship has to be
Speaker:upgraded with the years because today
Speaker:we are in a world where the technology is going
Speaker:so fast and changing so much.
Speaker:So we think and we
Speaker:have provision to invest
Speaker:in some renewal of sustainable equipment
Speaker:and I think that there are still some improvement
Speaker:to be done. So we'll
Speaker:be really eager to hear
Speaker:engineers feedback and after a year of
Speaker:operation we'll have also some
Speaker:proofs and some concrete data to see
Speaker:if our technical choice are
Speaker:giving those disruptive results and
Speaker:how much of it. So that will be
Speaker:an interesting part and how clear
Speaker:we are of things. We are quite
Speaker:conservative on our provisioning
Speaker:so both on the
Speaker:technical and sustainable
Speaker:performance. So we hope to be ahead of it. But we'll
Speaker:see and challenge today is
Speaker:also the supply chain actually
Speaker:because we are operating
Speaker:in really remote areas so everything
Speaker:has to be transported to those areas.
Speaker:So basically anything that you buy on
Speaker:place is shipped or by
Speaker:plane or by sea. And I think there
Speaker:is something to be done to
Speaker:optimise that part too
Speaker:because actually the carbon print is not
Speaker:only what you have on board, it's also
Speaker:how it comes on board. And
Speaker:that being said also implies how the
Speaker:passengers reach to the ship. And
Speaker:today it's by plane. And that's a pain. I
Speaker:mean, we would like this chain also to
Speaker:change and to be sustainable. So that
Speaker:is a point of work both on our
Speaker:scope and on the aviation side I think.
Speaker:And then we are internally
Speaker:putting a lot of energy on training,
Speaker:training the people because as we are
Speaker:small scale and Tailor made
Speaker:human is key for the
Speaker:experience and human is key for the field
Speaker:knowledge. And today the people are
Speaker:changing, younger generation are
Speaker:changing more and more of jobs
Speaker:and you have maybe a bit less
Speaker:experience while in some job
Speaker:titles like the captain, like the
Speaker:expedition leaders we have on board, it's
Speaker:necessarily you have to build up
Speaker:some experience from the field. So
Speaker:that is quite rare to find.
Speaker:And today if we want the younger
Speaker:generation not to turn over
Speaker:that much we have to be attractive
Speaker:on that part as an employer and as a ship
Speaker:owner. And so we have to find new
Speaker:ways to match their needs. So
Speaker:I would say that's also some point of work we
Speaker:have to focus on.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: And moving onwards when you get closer
Speaker:to getting into operation you will
Speaker:also have the opportunity, opportunity in some cases to
Speaker:allow other entrepreneurs to test
Speaker:solutions with you, if that works.
Speaker:And you will be looking for local
Speaker:suppliers and innovators for the various, part of
Speaker:your I mean local sourcing and
Speaker:activities I assume.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: Yeah, exactly. So on the technological
Speaker:side of things, the ship is built to be
Speaker:able to be a lab so to say
Speaker:and host and test some equipment
Speaker:while preserving safe operation and
Speaker:handling of the ship with quite
Speaker:let's say classical equipment that can be
Speaker:used in any case. So yes,
Speaker:any initiatives or of
Speaker:improvement regarding the ship technology
Speaker:or even some research
Speaker:equipment are really welcome.
Speaker:And regarding activities, you're
Speaker:totally right we want to build it with
Speaker:the locals hand in hand with
Speaker:field experts because we
Speaker:think that it would be a mistake
Speaker:to from the outside think
Speaker:it's a good idea but then realise once
Speaker:you're sure that it's not matching the
Speaker:uses, not matching the way people
Speaker:live up there. So we want to have some
Speaker:cool coherence in everything.
Speaker:And for sellor it's really important
Speaker:to stay aligned with our values
Speaker:and one of them is authenticity.
Speaker:So yes, we work hand in
Speaker:hand with locals to build
Speaker:all the client experience.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: I think that is such an important approach.
Speaker:Moving onwards and then I'm
Speaker:curious to hear where you are
Speaker:today and onwards. What kind of specific
Speaker:partners and resources do you
Speaker:need from our global community
Speaker:onwards, how can we in tool and
Speaker:also us in the sea trade sphere support
Speaker:your journey.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: So currently our first ship is under building
Speaker:and our
Speaker:2025 target is to finance
Speaker:the fleet growth first with a second
Speaker:sistership and then with the third one.
Speaker:So we're looking for financial partners for that.
Speaker:We are also looking for commercial partners
Speaker:because we operate both
Speaker:commercial lex B2C under our
Speaker:own brand. That is 50% of the business
Speaker:side and the other 50% is
Speaker:charted out to other tour
Speaker:operators or commercial,
Speaker:actors. So we are actively looking into
Speaker:that and we have the
Speaker:ambition to be an international company. So
Speaker:even if we are French based, we don't
Speaker:see us as a French company.
Speaker:And then, so
Speaker:we'll have those first three ships and then if I
Speaker:look really long term, we'll have to
Speaker:design another series of ships for other
Speaker:destinations. And so from there we'll
Speaker:need everything you need to design a ship.
Speaker:So engineering naval architect to be
Speaker:able to meet same purpose
Speaker:as those polar ships, meaning zero
Speaker:carbon and perfect
Speaker:experiential luxury travel,
Speaker:design you, I mean.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: You tapped into the issue of talents and that's
Speaker:something we, you know, make sure we ask
Speaker:our prominent guests in every
Speaker:episode related to ctrade's
Speaker:initiative with tomorrow's talents today.
Speaker:Because I mean regardless of small,
Speaker:large player, where we're based, which
Speaker:segments within cruise, we all need
Speaker:great humans on board with us to build the future of
Speaker:cruise. Do you have any
Speaker:personal hacks or advice to talents and
Speaker:industry colleagues that you would like to
Speaker:share when it comes to building your
Speaker:career and move be part of
Speaker:moving our industry into a better future?
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: I think it's important to stay focused and
Speaker:believe in yourself and be adaptable
Speaker:because this industry is changing a lot
Speaker:and quickly and you always have to
Speaker:think ahead and not be afraid of
Speaker:thinking outside the box.
Speaker:And also I think that the maritime
Speaker:sector is open to any type of
Speaker:profiles. And personally, when we recruit
Speaker:our team at sela, we have a special
Speaker:focus on soft skills
Speaker:and also on the
Speaker:logical part, on how people
Speaker:think logically and if they are
Speaker:capable or not of doing things of their own
Speaker:hands. That's important for us to.
Speaker:And then from there, whether you
Speaker:have done great studies or not, we know if we
Speaker:can take you up to other
Speaker:levels.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Thank you. And I think that's some really
Speaker:great tips. And are there any, I mean you touched upon it,
Speaker:but are there any specific mindset or skill
Speaker:set that you really, really consider key
Speaker:for talents that are eager to join the
Speaker:cruise pioneer movement?
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: I would say adaptability and
Speaker:flexibility. So adaptability
Speaker:both in your management style. So
Speaker:meaning that you can go from vertical to
Speaker:horizontal, both in the way
Speaker:you can react and find
Speaker:solutions, solution finder, and
Speaker:also adaptability in being able
Speaker:to think on strategy
Speaker:sometime and sometime you need to go down
Speaker:and do some more, operational tasks.
Speaker:So I think that yeah, adaptability would be
Speaker:my keyword.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Since you're an entrepreneur, do you also
Speaker:have some key hack or
Speaker:advice to other entrepreneurs out there on
Speaker:their journey?
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: dare to do it and to commit. There is
Speaker:plenty of things to do and plenty of
Speaker:things that needs to be changed.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Thank you. And then, you know, we are
Speaker:in the middle of celebrating, the International Women's
Speaker:Week and month day. And
Speaker:of course, I mean we're both female founders
Speaker:and we also have an initiative together that we
Speaker:haven't really launched or talked about
Speaker:yet out in the public. And that is related
Speaker:to women of course, because you mentioned
Speaker:you are going to start, general recruitment for
Speaker:key roles, towards the end of this year. And
Speaker:we are now preparing and
Speaker:building up what we call a global female,
Speaker:crew pool for stellar
Speaker:and for other, key pioneers, on the
Speaker:tool community. and we have
Speaker:quite a bold ambition for
Speaker:tools. Two expeditions that we are teaming
Speaker:up together for in 2027. So can
Speaker:you talk about, I mean you are a female founder, you are a
Speaker:female captain. What is your general commitment
Speaker:on, crew diversity and then we can move into
Speaker:what we're aiming for on the tool part of it.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: We have the objective to be the more
Speaker:gender equal company of the world
Speaker:and actually it's a bit sad to say but the
Speaker:challenge is not that high because the International
Speaker:Maritime Organisation came out with the
Speaker:number of female seamen on the international
Speaker:fleet and it's only 1%.
Speaker:So there's a lot of work to be done and
Speaker:a lot of effort. And together with
Speaker:ubergit, together with tul, we have this dream
Speaker:and objective of on two of the
Speaker:tul cruises to have 100%
Speaker:female crew on board. And that would be a world
Speaker:premiere I think.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: M and then we are, we have planned for
Speaker:and set up the initial programme for two
Speaker:Arctic expeditions, with diversity
Speaker:at the core in 2027. We have one end
Speaker:of January 2027 going to the Arctic
Speaker:Frontier Conference and one where
Speaker:we are moving all the way up to
Speaker:Svalbard in end of May
Speaker:2027. Both of these expeditions
Speaker:will have their own unique research
Speaker:target which we connect towards the
Speaker:Explorers Club. And then our mission
Speaker:is to now spend time recruiting a
Speaker:really amazing global pool
Speaker:of women's seafarers and
Speaker:expedition crew, together with
Speaker:Salar, so that we can really
Speaker:show a different pioneering story
Speaker:beyond the environmental part of this.
Speaker:Ah. And what I think is especially interesting
Speaker:when it comes to the Svalbard
Speaker:Peninsula is Ah. And that might
Speaker:be not so known to many but all the
Speaker:way back because I mean Celar is a French
Speaker:company, it has its financing
Speaker:from France as well. And if we move a
Speaker:century back in
Speaker:1838 till 1840,
Speaker:there was another French initiative that was
Speaker:the world's first purely
Speaker:environmental, scientific expedition, La
Speaker:Recherche Expedition that was led
Speaker:by French people and
Speaker:financed by the French government, up to
Speaker:Svalbard where it also gave name to what we
Speaker:call the Recherche Fjord. And on
Speaker:board that expedition was actually the
Speaker:first ever woman to be on
Speaker:board an Arctic expedition. her name
Speaker:was Leonie Donnet. she
Speaker:later wrote about her experiences and I
Speaker:feel you know, the path and the
Speaker:adventures and the voyage of Salar
Speaker:and your adventure Moving ahead towards
Speaker:2027, it really pulls us
Speaker:back to you know, hundred year old history
Speaker:and setting a new path
Speaker:and difference that is made
Speaker:by the French and with
Speaker:women on board. So I
Speaker:think we have a very exciting journey
Speaker:ahead and we will be able to follow
Speaker:your and Sellar's journey now up close
Speaker:on the tool community during all of this
Speaker:year. I would advise, you know, any women
Speaker:seafarers out there that are keen to you
Speaker:know, get on board the expedition
Speaker:lifestyle, to let us know and
Speaker:then Sophie we will be able to meet
Speaker:you at Seatrade Trade for sea trade
Speaker:40th anniversary in Miami
Speaker:in April this year. That is going to be really,
Speaker:really exciting and I think that it will be great
Speaker:to hear more about your journey
Speaker:there. and I encourage everyone out
Speaker:there who have, you know,
Speaker:resources, connections etcetera
Speaker:that are relevant for Sophie's journey onwards
Speaker:to realise the potentials of solar to,
Speaker:to reach out. And I think also you
Speaker:already opened up your bookings.
Speaker:>> Sophie Galvanon: Yeah, we already opened up our
Speaker:bookings so you can reach out
Speaker:online via WhatsApp or you can see our
Speaker:expeditions on
Speaker:ww.selor.cc.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Thank you and thank you so much for joining us
Speaker:Sophie and for inspiring us
Speaker:and well happy Women's Day and
Speaker:Women's Week to everyone and
Speaker:stay tuned for the next episode of the Cruise
Speaker:Pioneer podcast
Speaker:for sea Trade global 40th anniversary
Speaker:in 2025. We will also prepare the very
Speaker:first edition of Tools Cruise Innovators,
Speaker:a global overview of startups and innovators with
Speaker:enabling solutions for cruise. Welcome
Speaker:on board our voyage into the future and join the
Speaker:wave. Sign up today
Speaker:community.toolspawn.com.
