Episode 12
In Conversation with MedCruise | with Laura Cimaglia
How can ports and cities work hand-in-hand to build a more sustainable future for cruising?
In this episode we sit down with Laura Cimaglia, VP of MedCruise and DG & International Affairs at the Port of Taranto. Laura shares the story behind MedCruise’s groundbreaking collaboration with AIVP, the International Association of Port Cities, and the creation of the Cruise Port City Compass – a first-of-its-kind framework guiding sustainable growth at the port–city interface.
From managing tourism and strengthening community engagement, to improving passenger experiences and strategic infrastructure investments, Laura discusses how diversity of perspectives is driving meaningful change across the Mediterranean and beyond. She also offers a glimpse into the next phase of MedCruise’s Cruise Community Engagement working group, including how ports, cities, cruise lines, and technology providers are coming together to shape greener, smarter, and more inclusive destinations.
Transcript
>> Holly Payne: Foreign.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: And welcome to another Seatrade Trade Cruise Talks
Speaker:podcast. I'm joined today by Laura Kmmeglia, who
Speaker:is the vice president of MedCruise, also
Speaker:responsible for cruise community engagement at
Speaker:MedCruise, as well as Port of Taranto's Director
Speaker:of General and International Affairs. So welcome,
Speaker:Laura.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Welcome to you, Holly. And it's a very shiny day
Speaker:here in Taranto and thanks for having me.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Oh, well, thank you. Now I'm very interested.
Speaker:Laura, you've got a lot of responsibilities in
Speaker:your role, not just at MedCruise but of course
Speaker:looking at cruise community engagement as a whole
Speaker:as well as your responsibilities at Taranto. But
Speaker:what I'd really like to hone in on today is the
Speaker:AIVP working group because I know you're working
Speaker:on some new targets with them.
Speaker:So first of all, for our listeners who aren't
Speaker:familiar with the aivp, perhaps you could explain
Speaker:a little bit what they are about and also what
Speaker:inspired the collaboration between MedCruise and
Speaker:AIVP to create the cruise Port City Compass that
Speaker:you've got.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: I have to say I am very, very, very proud about
Speaker:this collaboration. And AIVP is the international
Speaker:association of Port City and they've been working
Speaker:on our worldwide network for over 30 years now.
Speaker:Their aim is basically to put together port
Speaker:players and city players in order to find a way to
Speaker:work together and collaborate. Our associations
Speaker:though had and still have different aims. And the
Speaker:idea came to me in 2020, 2021. It was during COVID
Speaker:and I do remember that because it was the time
Speaker:where it was starting to, we were starting in our
Speaker:community, in our network to talk about tourists
Speaker:and over tourism, about the pressure that
Speaker:sometimes communities were feeling about cruises.
Speaker:It was Macros who reached out to AIVP during COVID
Speaker:At the beginning it was not easy. As I said, we
Speaker:were and we still are very different with very
Speaker:different aims. But our talking into each other
Speaker:made us realise how important it would be to have
Speaker:a different perspective, a different point of
Speaker:view. And we started to use our differences to
Speaker:work into a common position and support a
Speaker:sustainable cruise growth and port city relations
Speaker:at that time. Then we started the first working
Speaker:group. The name was and still is Cruises and Port
Speaker:Cities. We are currently composed about 28 members
Speaker:from 12 different counties. And our partnership
Speaker:and commitment, it is proved by the love and
Speaker:passion that all the members are putting into this
Speaker:working group. I also have to say that I'm proud
Speaker:because it is the first Anomaly for the moment.
Speaker:Working group in Netflix who has an external
Speaker:partner, another association. We usually have
Speaker:internal working groups which are great, but this
Speaker:time we reached out and I think it worked. So the
Speaker:aim of the partnership was, as I was saying, to
Speaker:gain a different point of view, a different
Speaker:perspective. And we decided that we wanted to put
Speaker:this into works and that's how it came the idea,
Speaker:ah, of on working on a Kuzbark city campus.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Well, that's very interesting to hear, Laura, how,
Speaker:from various differences, among the members, that
Speaker:you're able to combine your insights and expertise
Speaker:to form this relationship. So thank you for
Speaker:shedding some light on how the partnership
Speaker:developed. What would you consider the main
Speaker:strength of the working group?
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: It is a working group that gather together a mix
Speaker:of members, not only ports, but. And this is what
Speaker:really interested us on Metwin side because we are
Speaker:ports and port communities in the association. But
Speaker:on the other side of the. It's also cities around
Speaker:the world. And it is a very interesting approach.
Speaker:the one they have because is not only based on the
Speaker:Mediterranean, like the association that I
Speaker:represent, but it's worldwide and it's a very
Speaker:important thing. And also it might sound like a,
Speaker:logo or slogan, but our diversity is really the
Speaker:most powerful strength we have. We bring together
Speaker:people from shore to cities and we learn from
Speaker:their project, direct experience and port city
Speaker:development strategies. And we listen to all the
Speaker:goals achieved from the members of the group,
Speaker:which, as I say, we are now 28. But every time we
Speaker:gather together online or during our webinars,
Speaker:during first phase, we were always a group of
Speaker:people between 20 and 25 people people. So the
Speaker:collaboration was great and we had a lot of work
Speaker:to do. But this is, I think, what helped us most.
Speaker:Shores and cities together. Talking about their
Speaker:perspective, their issues. Because sometimes there
Speaker:are issues. But one thing I realised, and that was
Speaker:actually the first time I talked to the members
Speaker:and representative of the ivp, is that
Speaker:communication is the key. They didn't know us,
Speaker:they didn't know about the work that Met was
Speaker:doing, they just probably thought that we were
Speaker:trying to promote our ports in the cruise market,
Speaker:regardless of what was happening on the shore and
Speaker:on the communities. And then when they learned how
Speaker:passionate we were, but, also taking care of the
Speaker:community, sp. Communities and cities communities,
Speaker:that's when we really clicked.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Well, that's very inspiring. It's very promising
Speaker:to hear about the dedication on both sides of
Speaker:tackling some of the issues that you've mentioned
Speaker:around over tourism and really seeing this
Speaker:relationship go from strength to strength.
Speaker:So the cruise port city compass itself, it focuses
Speaker:on environmental protection, port city interface,
Speaker:governance, economic impact. But which of these
Speaker:areas do you believe presents the greatest
Speaker:opportunity for improvement across Mediterranean
Speaker:cruise destinations?
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Well, it was a great effort and let me also thank
Speaker:my collaborator, still working with me, but she
Speaker:took care of the cruise compass while I was, for
Speaker:professional reasons out for a period of the
Speaker:association. And then it was a beautiful
Speaker:coincidence when I started working with the
Speaker:association again I found myself in the same field
Speaker:I left three years before, which was really
Speaker:exciting for me. It was a very great, it was a
Speaker:very big effort because it put together 60 teams,
Speaker:members from both associations and it also spanned
Speaker:not only in ports and cities, but we wanted to
Speaker:hear the voices of academia. Also we wanted to
Speaker:have some complementary perspective from
Speaker:associations like TIA and aspo. we interviewed
Speaker:Professor Thomas Paulus from the Araeus University
Speaker:and we also had three port authorities and
Speaker:municipal governments to talk and give us their
Speaker:experience, such as Guarivier in Canada, Maxel in
Speaker:France and Dubrovnik in Croatia. And the last part
Speaker:I want to add, we wanted to talk also about
Speaker:technical and infrastructure providers. So we
Speaker:interviewed WebTac and Global. Awesome language.
Speaker:As you know, it's the global terminal operator for
Speaker:cruise ships. It is a first phase. We want to
Speaker:consider this as the first output and now we want
Speaker:to go further. But if I have to go back to the
Speaker:compass, I think that the three main points can
Speaker:be, let's say, underlined. First one, if we talk
Speaker:about port is CT interface, we need to still work
Speaker:a little bit more on the integration between
Speaker:cruise terminals and yoga areas. And that is
Speaker:because I think we need to improve the passenger
Speaker:experience as well as the local community
Speaker:engagement. And now that I'm talking, it comes to
Speaker:my mind that one of the greatest example that we
Speaker:had, huge project that was led by our former
Speaker:president Figue Nayan. It was the Istanbul
Speaker:terminal, the Gata Port, that was a huge effort.
Speaker:And I think examples like this may help other
Speaker:ports to develop a very good relationship between
Speaker:port and city. Also if we talk about governance, I
Speaker:think we need to foster the collaboration more
Speaker:between the local and city planner and port
Speaker:authorities and port planners and put together
Speaker:also the stakeholders into the planning procedure.
Speaker:This is also something that we can do in order to
Speaker:standardise the procedures and features of the
Speaker:infrastructures around the Mediterranean. And then
Speaker:in the last point, and I think it is still
Speaker:important if we Talk about the economic impacts
Speaker:and benefits for local communities. I think that
Speaker:we still need to look into the workforce training
Speaker:and employment opportunities because it is not
Speaker:only a matter of, port taxes, but it is a matter
Speaker:also of cultural change. And I can give you the
Speaker:example of my home city, which comes from an
Speaker:industrial cost. But when the cruises started to
Speaker:touch the port of Taranto, something changed and
Speaker:something clicked into the community. So we now
Speaker:have schools that are training children for
Speaker:professions that are dedicated to the cruise
Speaker:sector. And I think this is something that we were
Speaker:not expecting. It was a surprise and it is so
Speaker:important that we want to foster this more.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Absolutely.
Speaker:Can you elaborate on how the document serves as a
Speaker:compass for sustainable growth and development of
Speaker:cruise ports and their communities?
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Yes. while m discussing in the working group, what
Speaker:came out, is that of course even in this situation
Speaker:we cannot have one solution that fits all this is
Speaker:tier ports and city ports are different all over,
Speaker:throughout the Mediterranean. So what we really
Speaker:wanted to do was for this first phase of
Speaker:networking to create a document that could serve
Speaker:as, we call it compass, but it's really a
Speaker:guideline. So, we thought of giving examples,
Speaker:sharing good practises so that people could
Speaker:relate. It's not that we are not going around
Speaker:talking about the compass and you should do this
Speaker:or you should do that. We are, emphasising what
Speaker:other people, what other ports, other cities have
Speaker:done so that people can be inspired. Nothing more,
Speaker:nothing less. And I think, as an IP put of the
Speaker:first phase, it's really good. but we are still
Speaker:working on the second phase which will be, I can
Speaker:say, maybe even more exciting because this is the
Speaker:time where, when we are thinking about giving
Speaker:people some tools.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Well, that's great. Very good to hear that.
Speaker:And how is MedCruise helping member ports
Speaker:implement the sustainable, sustainable practises
Speaker:highlighted in the publication?
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Let me tell you that it's not just my working
Speaker:group, that is working onto sustainable practise
Speaker:because Metclus, has been involved in
Speaker:sustainability for many years so far. One of the
Speaker:first working group that was created was the one
Speaker:about environmental impact of cruises, which is
Speaker:led by my very good friend Baranya Manjarovi and
Speaker:they have done an incredible and amazing job. One
Speaker:of the last outputs that working group created is
Speaker:a map, that is shown on Macro's website where you
Speaker:can see all the ongoing project about alternative
Speaker:fuels. If you go there, you can see, see who in
Speaker:the Mediterranean clearly amongst the members of
Speaker:the association as ah already OPS or is providing
Speaker:OPS or different and alternative fuels, hydrogen
Speaker:and so on. And I think this is something that
Speaker:people need to see. For example, I mean I used
Speaker:this map the other day when I was doing a meeting
Speaker:because we really wanted to understand who was
Speaker:providing this kind of services in the
Speaker:Mediterranean and if a part wants to invest on an
Speaker:alternative fuel, I think it's a good point of
Speaker:view. It's a good point, starting point actually
Speaker:to see who else is providing the same service. And
Speaker:this is on the environmental point of view, on the
Speaker:social impact point of view. As we say in Italy,
Speaker:we are changing our shirt. Our working group was
Speaker:named Cruise and City Relationship and now it is
Speaker:called Cruise Community Engagement. And the name
Speaker:only, even if you read, makes you understand that
Speaker:the focus of is on the engagement. The focus is on
Speaker:people. We hear worldwide a lot of problems, that
Speaker:many communities, many cities, not only port
Speaker:cities, are struggling with the impact of tourism
Speaker:and really want to address this issue. So these
Speaker:are the main points that the association is taking
Speaker:care of right now.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: That's great to hear Laura. Ah, and very
Speaker:promising. So looking forward to seeing how the
Speaker:relationship develops and continues to evolve and
Speaker:do more really good things now. The publication
Speaker:showcases Barcelona, Marseille and Dubrovnik as
Speaker:representing different stages of cruise sector
Speaker:development. But what lessons can other ports
Speaker:learn from these case studies?
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Overall the case studies emphasise the importance
Speaker:of strategic infrastructure investment,
Speaker:sustainability, community engagement,
Speaker:accessibility and balancing economic benefits with
Speaker:social and also environmental responsibility for
Speaker:long term success increase for city development.
Speaker:This is not an easy recipe. Let's say the
Speaker:interviews with the cities of Marseilles and
Speaker:Dubrovnik showcased the different stages of
Speaker:development in the cruise sector that the two port
Speaker:cities have. And in the case of Marcel, for
Speaker:instance, we appreciate the contrasting
Speaker:perspective in which the right balance between the
Speaker:sector and the local aspiration expressed by the
Speaker:political leaders is not yet cheat. Still right
Speaker:now, these days Marcel is discussing about their
Speaker:future in the cruise market. And in the spirit of
Speaker:the publication, to build new dialogues, all the
Speaker:voices must be heard as a first step towards a
Speaker:balanced relationship. So we didn't want to cut it
Speaker:out just because it wasn't totally happening in
Speaker:the case of the Barrack native. Instead we can see
Speaker:even more mature situation in which the problem of
Speaker:our tourism was addressed through dialogue. Smart
Speaker:City Solution was something that we picked for the
Speaker:second phase and agreements with stakeholders like
Speaker:the cruise lines. And these contributions are a
Speaker:key to understand the highs and lows of the world
Speaker:of cruise cruising through the hours also of local
Speaker:governments was, let me tell you what difficulty
Speaker:most of the time we find in our port cities. Local
Speaker:government are not experts on the subject on
Speaker:cruising on port operations, on what the cruise
Speaker:ship wants when it calls a port. So the
Speaker:relationship between local government and port
Speaker:authorities, it's really essential. Everyone has
Speaker:to do their job but if we don't cooperate nothing
Speaker:can be achieved. This is something that I think I
Speaker:have learned and we need to tell people that they
Speaker:cannot, you know, they cannot stay in their
Speaker:offices in the port, but they have to go out and
Speaker:seek the local authorities and teachers teach them
Speaker:if needed, what they need to know in order to make
Speaker:better policies for the local communities.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Well that's great advice Laura, so very good to
Speaker:hear your input, your insights into this.
Speaker:What about the technical side? I mean you've
Speaker:spoken a little bit about the shore power and some
Speaker:other areas connected with this but, but I'm
Speaker:interested to know what role do you see for
Speaker:technical and infrastructural providers in
Speaker:advancing the sustainable cruise port city
Speaker:relationship outlined in your publication?
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Well Holly, while writing the conference we
Speaker:collected a lot of inputs about port transitions
Speaker:towards a cleaner, smarter and more sustainable
Speaker:cruise tourism. And I think that the providers
Speaker:play a crucial role in advancing the sustainable
Speaker:cruise port city relationship which was firstly
Speaker:outlined in the publication. But their role is
Speaker:pivotal for the developing and implementing the
Speaker:advanced technologies such the one we're
Speaker:mentioning, OPM system for instance that will
Speaker:allow cruise ships to react to renewable
Speaker:electricity grids significantly reducing
Speaker:emissions. This is something that even if it was
Speaker:the first maybe struggle it is still part of the
Speaker:main point that cities are worried about. So I
Speaker:think that the technical providers can serve for
Speaker:designing and constructing modern energy
Speaker:efficiently is there, you know and I think that
Speaker:the infrastructure should think about how to
Speaker:accommodate larger ships with an increased volume
Speaker:of passengers of course but minimising their
Speaker:environmental impact. And again let me think about
Speaker:the Deltaport case for instance. They built a
Speaker:whole neighbourhood out of an abandoned quay
Speaker:inside the old town of Instanbul and it's now
Speaker:thriving people that there is also a shopping,
Speaker:small restaurant and when the ship is there it's a
Speaker:huge security wall coming up allowing people to
Speaker:work in a secure way and respecting of course
Speaker:course also all the laws about ISPS code and
Speaker:everything. So that's, that's a very good example.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: That's great. Thank you for that example Laura.
Speaker:Now we are at Seatrade Trade Cruise. We are very
Speaker:eager to know more about the second phase of the
Speaker:working group and your new task. So what is the
Speaker:task cruise community engagement actually about?
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: So Holly, the name says everything. In this case
Speaker:it's not just about showing something different
Speaker:but about giving something different to the
Speaker:members. We are now focusing on cruise community
Speaker:engagement. And I have to say that the idea is now
Speaker:to still continue to gather information from the
Speaker:members but also to give them back how to do so.
Speaker:Well the idea came because my ears were burning
Speaker:when I heard an msc for instance, ah, a new
Speaker:position on cruise community engagement. I thought
Speaker:so this is the way, I mean it's not just us
Speaker:focusing on local communities. Finally on certain
Speaker:cruises that the cruise ships and cruise companies
Speaker:see that this is where they have to go, this is
Speaker:what they have to foster. And so we decided to
Speaker:involve the manager that MSC has chosen who is
Speaker:John, Olaf Steady. And he became our first Rocket
Speaker:Angel. We decided to have his angels, people from
Speaker:outside the association to help our members, to
Speaker:give them insights on how they can work together.
Speaker:For instance in this case for the first webinar
Speaker:that we had together with the cruise lines. And
Speaker:then I, let me tell you, it was really interesting
Speaker:to learn how to go wrong so many times being a
Speaker:port promoter sometimes you just don't know who to
Speaker:talk to, how to reach the cruise line. And Jonolaf
Speaker:was very good in that. And also it was funny
Speaker:because during the first webinar someone came out
Speaker:saying hey can I call you later because I have a
Speaker:problem. And he said of course, this is my number,
Speaker:call me anytime. So this was a great success for,
Speaker:for, for us and we want to go on like this. We are
Speaker:planning to have another session, another online
Speaker:session. I can't spoil you who our angel will be.
Speaker:but it will be very interesting because it's it's
Speaker:going to be focused on how to manage the flows
Speaker:coming down from the cruise ships.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Wow, that's very exciting. So we'll have to keep
Speaker:our ah, eyes peeled for this information.
Speaker:What so regarding the working group, you've spoken
Speaker:about this, how it's changed everything that
Speaker:you're doing at the moment to really develop this
Speaker:concept. So the format of this second phase, it is
Speaker:quite different than to previous. And have you
Speaker:introduced any other innovation for development of
Speaker:some of the activities?
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Yes, it is totally different. As I said we will
Speaker:still have our online meetings, but we are
Speaker:thinking also of showcasing the working group
Speaker:live. So in October we are going to have our
Speaker:second online session and the host, as I was
Speaker:telling you, is a very, is an expert on flow
Speaker:management. I can just start with companies called
Speaker:Systematica and we're going to focus on flow
Speaker:management and then we're going to have a third
Speaker:session in Port City. we're going to go live and
Speaker:at that time I think it's going to be a mix of
Speaker:these two phases. So members that will join can
Speaker:probably showcase. It's still an ongoing thing, so
Speaker:they will probably showcase and tell their
Speaker:experiences. but also our angels and our experts
Speaker:will mix with the members. And I don't want to use
Speaker:the word teach because it's not a teaching
Speaker:session. It's a learning session though. So from
Speaker:different perspective, different experience,
Speaker:different professions also people will learn. And
Speaker:what we expect to come out this experience is that
Speaker:probably. Well this is what we aim. Of course we
Speaker:will see what happens. But everyone can bring home
Speaker:something more on how to manage the cruise ships
Speaker:in their ports. No matter if the port is a small
Speaker:port regarding the cruise business or if it is a
Speaker:large port with issues, we really hope that our
Speaker:encounter of these professionals will help all of
Speaker:them.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Well that's great and it's lovely to hear you
Speaker:discuss this Laura, talk about these plans and
Speaker:really developing the industry, pushing the
Speaker:sustainability and you know, it's very inspiring
Speaker:and very encouraging. So thank you for all of your
Speaker:advice, your insights that you've shared with us
Speaker:and I'm really looking forward to hearing where
Speaker:this goes, this work with the AIVP and your point
Speaker:City Compass, how it's growing and developing. And
Speaker:we're going to be keeping a close eye on this and
Speaker:sharing news as we learn more and more about it.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Thank you Holly. It was a pleasure to be here and
Speaker:I can't wait to see you in Hamburg and discuss
Speaker:more about this. Thank you to Sita too.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Thank you Laura.
Speaker:>> Holly Payne: Thank you very much.
