Global full-service provider Blue Water Shipping has announced a new logistics partnership with the shared professional services group supporting Holland America Group, which consists of Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn and P&O Australia.
As part of the cooperation, Blue Water Shipping will be managing the warehouse operations for the group’s main distribution center in Florida, including order fulfillment, distribution, storage, cross dock and live loads for dry, chilled and frozen shipments and deliveries for the cruise companies and their 36 ships.
“We are honored to enter this partnership and are proud to once again take one step further in the cruise industry together with our long-lasting customer. Holland America Line was our first cruise client in 1999, and through close partnership, both of our companies grew during the next 15 years. It is partly due to our relationship with Holland America Line, that we decided to form a dedicated Strategic Business Unit focusing on the cruise and marine logistics industry,” said the Chairman and Owner of Blue Water Shipping, Kurt Skov.
According to a press release, the 170,000 sq. ft. warehouse facilities are “strategically located “in proximity to Fort Lauderdale. The supply chain operation in the facility is a broad mix of logistics solutions – ranging from cross docking of dry, chilled, and frozen ship supplies, crew mails and technical spare parts, as well as running a full Vendor-Managed Inventory setup.
“This requires a certain skillset and knowhow to ensure quality, flexibility and efficiency and Blue Water Shipping was chosen due to its +20 years of experience in exactly these types of processes,” the company wrote. “Blue Water Shipping’s IT systems are customized to fit specific markets and serve as a tool for handling and monitoring every single step of transport and warehousing.”
Aside from the warehouse operation, a global team of professionals at Blue Water Shipping’s offices in important cruise hubs worldwide provides round-the-clock services to the cruise ships, such as port agency, customs clearance, stevedoring, crew change, last-mile delivery, transportation and repair works. HSSEQ is an integrated part of its business, Blue Water Shipping wrote.
Since 1999, the company has been specialized in transport and logistics solutions to the cruise and marine industry. Blue Water Shipping handles storage, supply, and distribution of all necessities for cruise ships calling at various ports worldwide, including direct-to-ship containers and last-mile services.
“The clients can always rely on swift solutions and services whenever they need them,” Blue Water Shipping wrote. “Blue Water Shipping’s Cruise & Marine logistics specialists are ready on the quayside in major hubs such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, France, Singapore, Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, Finland and Dubai.”
Long-standing and close cooperation with most of the global cruise lines has provided Blue Water Shipping with an insight into the rapidly growing leisure industry, it said. Being close to the clients and the clients’ markets has been a “top priority” since the company was founded.
“When COVID-19 became a reality in March 2020, we quickly identified this as a major threat to our business unit servicing the cruise industry. However, due to our long history in the cruise market, we decided as a company to maintain our commitment to the industry leaving most of our global Cruise & Marine Logistics Structure intact, because we also identified a need from the cruise lines to find partners that could provide efficiency, scalability and innovation to their supply chains after COVID-19,” said the Global Head of Marine Logistics for Blue Water Shipping, Kasper Sommer.
