Greenland post trip note 2016 Background Among AECO’s daily tasks are a number of Greenland related issues. These issues include: • to inform members of new Greenlandic rules and regulations • to inform members of other initiatives of relevance for cruise operators in Greenland • regular contact with the Greenlandic and Danish authorities • coordination with Greenlandic partners such as Visit Greenland, the Greenlandic Administration – including the Greenlandic expedition office, Arctic Command and many more • take initiative in regard to increased safety at sea, for example when sharing vessel tracking information with Arctic Command • work on getting new Greenland related initiatives up and running • monitoring of the Greenlandic media • writing press releases about AECO-topics with relevance for the Greenlandic media • lobbying for our member’s interest in regard to new administrative processes by taking part in hearings and other activities regarding new Greenlandic regulation etc. Greenland-trip 2016 At the end of April /beginning of May 2016 AECO’s Secretariat travelled to Greenland to participate in a Visit Greenland organized cruise workshop in Kangerlussuaq and meet with a number of cruise tourism stakeholders in Nuuk. AECO-members were invited and encouraged to send inputs regarding issues that should be raised before the trip. Meetings during the trip AECO’s Secretariat met with old and new partners, governmental representatives, politicians and other local cruise-stakeholders as well as destination representatives. Beside a general presentation of AECO, our organization and work, AECO showcased projects such as: - AECO’s Crowd Sourcing Project - AECO’s recent SAR TTX Exercise in Reykjavik - AECO’s cruise database tool, and - AECO’s Vessel Tracking system

1

When applicable the following themes were also included in on the meeting agenda: The new Greenlandic pilot act. At this point pilotage is mandatory for vessels with more than 250 passengers – there is however a possibility for Appling for exemption (but no further condition or information about such individual exemptions has been provided yet). - The new Greenlandic harbor fee. At this point in time the additional Harbor fees for Greenland are: General Harbor fee There is a general harbor fee of 1.10 DKK per gross tonnage which came into force already July 1, 2015. This is the fee which came instead of the previous per passenger fee. This fee is counted per day i.e. from “00” – “24”, so if a vessel is in harbor overnight the price is for two days. Harbor fee, Nuuk There is a new harbor fee in Nuuk of 1.00 DKK per gross tonnage which is coming into force on July 1, 2016. This fee is an extra fee for Nuuk, which the Harbor has only just informed the users about. The fee is applicable even though the new harbor in Nuuk is not finished yet – also if vessels should not go to pier but tender. This fee is per 4 days. - AECO as a hearing part, whenever the issue is related to cruise tourism. AECO’s trips to Greenland increases awareness of the association and our activities. - Other themes (mentioned in the individual meetings notes below)

Meetings in Nuuk Below is a resume of the most important issues discussed at the meetings in Nuuk. The attendees and their contact info is also listed here. Ministry of Housing, Construction & Infrastructure AECO met with the Greenlandic Governments Maritime Employee Katrina Kalsø and was Introduced to Gitte Nielsen who is in charge of the Greenlandic Harbors on behalf of the Greenlandic Government. Katrina Kalsø ([email protected]) informed about: - The new Pilot Act (more about this below) - The new maritime regulations for Greenland (more about this below) - Nautical week – which will be held on Wednesday, the first week of September - The new Greenlandic maritime safety campaign - A new analysis regarding the consequences of a possible transfer of the Maritime area from Denmark to Greenland Gitte Jensen ([email protected]) informed about: - The possible future gross tonnage harbor fee Ministry of Nature, Environment and Justice AECO met with Finn Nielsen ([email protected]) from the Expedition office who gave an update about the status of expedition permit applications for cruise vessels this year. He also informed about the fact that the electronic application system which should have 2

been up and running by now would (probably) not be operational before next season. Martin Schiøtz ([email protected]) from the same department helped clarify some AECO operator’s questions regarding the Greenlandic Travel Act. Finn Nielsen also informed about the work to change the expeditionapplication fee from 4.000 to 6.000. Ministry of Industry, Labor and Trade AECO met with Head of Department Tina Jensen ([email protected]) & Jeppe Holt ([email protected]) who gave an update in regard to: - The new Greenlandic Tourism Strategy, and - The new plans for new infrastructure – especially the new future runway extension in Ilulissat and Airport + harbor in Nuuk Royal Arctic Line Logistics AECO met with Gorm Diernisse ([email protected]) from Royal Arctic Line Logistics. RAL informed about prices for piloting in Greenland (this will be elaborated on below). The option of sharing depth soundings between RAL and Operators in the time to come is something that has potential which we could work on with. RAL also informed about a new partnership in the group http://www.naa.is/ where RAL has partnered up with among others Faroe Ships, Eimskip and Gara. WWF Greenland AECO met with Kaare Winther Hansen ([email protected]) from WWF Greenland. The talk was about public consultations in Greenland where there is a good potential for information exchange between WWF Greenland and AECO. AECO should also see ‘høringsportalen’ where such consultations are made public. Network dinner In addition to meetings, AECO invited some of our most important contacts for dinner. Dinner-guests were: Anders la Cour Wahl, Visit Greenland Mads Skifte, Visit Greenland Katrina Kalsø, Ministry of Infrastructure Gitte Jensen, Ministry of Infrastructure Toke Brødsgaard, Air Greenland Bergur Gunnthorsson, Air Greenland Tina Jensen, Ministry of Industry Jeppe Holt, Ministry of Industry Kaare Winther Hansen, WWF Gorm Diernisse, Royal Arctic Line Logistics Ilja Leo Lang, AECO

3

Cruise Workshop in Kangerlussuaq The Cruise workshop in Kangerlussuaq was very well organized and contained many expedition cruise relevant topics. Below is short overview of the presentations. The attendees were: • Ivik Knudsen Ostermann, Greenland Cruises, [email protected] • Martin Bo Hansen, WOG [email protected] • Miki Tuuma Kaas, Tupilak Travel [email protected] • Mie Chemnitz, Tupilak Travel [email protected] • Toke Brødsgaard, Air Greenland Charter, [email protected] • Jeppe Holt, Ministry of Trade [email protected] • Finn Nielsen, Expedition office at Department of Nature, [email protected] • Kristian Hald, Blue Water, [email protected] • Jesper Øraker Hald, Blue Water, [email protected] • John Kjær, Royal Arctic Line Logistics, [email protected] • Peer B. Brandenborg, DanPilot / Greenland Pilot Services [email protected] • Henrik Nielsen, Campus Kujalleq [email protected] • Rie Oldenburg, Campus Kujalleq, [email protected] • Ulla Lynge, Sermersooq Erhvervsråd [email protected] • Katrina Kalsø, Ministry of Infrastructure, [email protected] • Gitte Jensen, Ministry of Infrastructure, [email protected] • Pall Hermannsson, Sikukii Harbor, [email protected] • Keld Qvistgaard, DMI [email protected] • Jens Christian Hildestad ([email protected]) • Olafur Olafsson, Qeqqata Chamber of Commerce, [email protected] • Anders la Cour Vahl, Visit Greenland, [email protected] • Mads Skifte, Visit Greenland, [email protected] • Tommy Kanstrup, WOGAC, [email protected] • Ilja Leo Lang, AECO [email protected] • Troels B. Danielsen, Søfartsstyrelsen [email protected] (via skype) • Jens Peter Hartmann Geodatastyrelsen [email protected] (via skype) All relevant people on this list has been added to AECO’s list of Newsletter recipients Jeppe Holt Jensen from Ministry of Industry, Labor and Trade Jeppe Holt Jensen ([email protected]) Informs about the new national tourism strategy for 2016 and forward. The Ministry of Industry, Labor and Trade through this new strategy is to promote growth and create new jobs within the tourism sector. The goal is to go from 20.000 cruise guests annually now to 39.000 tourists in 2040. Anders la Cour Vahl presents Visit Greenlands’s new tourism strategy Anders la Cour Vahl, Visit Greenland, ([email protected]) presents Visit Greenland’s new tourism strategy. The new strategy is very broad. One element of it is an expansion of the season. Visit Greenland works actively to collect better statistics and documentation. Simultaneously, Visit Greenland is working on a cruise universe on their 4

website – with answers to frequently answered questions for visitors, cruise operators etc. Visit Greenland also shares sailing plans here. Another interesting point that Anders pointed out is that Visit Greenland is working to ‘counter’ the little growth in Vest Greenland by ‘promoting’ the cultural experiences that the typically ‘nature-oriented’ expedition cruise guests and their operators might be less focused on. Gitte Jensen, Ministry of Housing, Construction & Infrastructure informs about the new Greenlandic tourism strategy Gitte Jensen ([email protected]) who is responsible for the Greenlandic harbors informed about the new tourism strategy. There are new investments in regard to tender facilities in Ilulissat and Quassiarsuk. DMA informed about the new Greenlandic Regulation Troels Blicher Danielsen ([email protected]) Deputy Director with the Danish Maritime Authorities informed about the new rules for safe navigation in Greenlandic waters – all of which AECO members has been informed about recently. When asked whether DMA had an intention to lower the ‘scope’ of the regulation to include vessels with less than 250 passengers Troels Danielsen just as Michael Skov and previously Francis Zachariae stated that DMA has no current intentions to do so. Pall Hermannsson, Director of Sikuki harbor Nuuk The harbor in Nuuk is presented by Director Pall Hermannsson ([email protected]). A new user fee here of 1 DKK pr. gross ton pr. 4 days is also presented at the meeting. The fee will be in place from July 1st (see a description of the new fee above). Overall the new harbor project is rather impressive and seem to be able to accommodate many more vessels in a much better way than previously – the project implies better access to ‘tidevandstrappen’, taxis and parked cars. Also there will be a separation of pedestrian traffic from traffic as such as well as industrial traffic such as fork lifts etc.

5

Anders la Cour Vahl presents the cruise development in Greenland See slides from Anders presentation at the end of the document Status for last season from operators The local operators present gives a short overview of their previous season. Among the presentations from the meeting there is a text document with a thorough version of this. Pilotage from July 1, 2016 by Peer B. Brandenborg Peer B. Brandenborg ([email protected]) from DanPilot and/or Greenland Pilot Services informs about pilotage in Greenland. Two people work on this area for DanPilot: Peer B. Brandenborg & Jakob Nordstrøm, who previously was the owner of Greenland maritime solutions. Both will be present at AECO’s Annual Arctic Cruise Conferense in Oslo on October 12, 2016. Greenland Pilot Services are ‘service providers’ in regards to pilotage in Greenland. DanPilot and/or Greenland Pilot Services has an obligation to deliver pilotage if nobody else can/wants to. Peer states that there is no shortage of pilots and that enough pilots are available. There is a pilot fee for vessels with more than 250 passengers going to Greenland – this is at least the proposal – there is an option of getting exemption from this but the conditions are not yet clear. The price for the new pilot service is as follows: PRICES AND FEES The pricing of our service includes: • Vessel fee, which is paid pr. gross ton (GT) • Pilot fee, which is paid pro rate pr. day of pilotage • Boarding Fee which covers the expenses of going on/off the vessel. THE VESSEL FEE IS: 0-14.000 BT: 1,00 DKK pr. GT 14.001-24.000 BT: 1,50 DKK pr. GT 24.001-34.000 BT: 2,00 DKK pr. GT 34.001-44.000 BT 3,00 DKK pr. GT 44.001-54.000 BT 5,00 DKK pr. GT 54.001+ 7,00 DKK pr. GT THE PILOT FEE IS 24.000 DKK pro rate pr. day THE BOARDING FEE IS 54.000 DKK Lumpsum. Regarding the issue whether proper charts are needed to be able to pilot in Greenlandic Waters Peers answer is that “as a pilot one has liability as an advisor and this means that the insurance companies demand good charts” (unofficial translation of ”som losvirksomhed har man et ’rådgivingsansvar’ og forsikringsselskaber kræver at man bruger gode søkort”) DanPilot /Greenland Pilot Services stress that they wish to be as flexible as possible.

6

The new fees and the reactions from the industry by Bluewater Greenland Jesper Skjoldborg Øraker ([email protected]) from Blue Water Greenland Kristian Hald ([email protected]) from Bluewater Greenland and John Kjær ([email protected]) from Royal Arctic Line Logistics explains how the changes in the fee system in Greenland has been received by the industry. The removal of the tax has been moderately positive received whereas the new harbor fees has been very negatively received. Unfortunately, the negative outweighs the positive here. The consequences of the delayed new charts by the Danish Geodata agency Jens Peter Weiss Hartmann ([email protected]) from the Danish Geodata agency tells about the work with charts in Greenland and demonstrates the use of different tools for navigation in Greenland. AECO will be invited to a user meeting in August. The Greenland charts has a large relative precision but no absolute precision (unofficial translation of “der er stor relativ nøjagtighed, men ikke absolut nøjagtighed”). Because of the Danish politician’s decision to move the Geodata Agency 13 out of 15 employees working with Greenland charts has quit their jobs. This means that the production has practically stopped at this point and that the planned charts will not be ready. The consequences of the Ppolar Code in relations to DMI’s IceMetOcean products Keld Qvistgaard ([email protected]) informed about the IceMetOcean products from Danish Meteorological Information (DMI) in Greenland. Keld states that the old ice charts in the future will be phased out and exchanged with individual tools for the users, which shows a picture more relevant to the individual user, vessel and operation. What does harbor-agents do? Jesper Skjoldborg Øraker ([email protected]) from Blue Water Greenland Kristian Hald ([email protected]) from Bluewater Greenland and John Kjær ([email protected]) from Royal Arctic Line Logistics explains what harbor agents do – i.e. sale, lobby-work, clarifications of what’s possible, how much it costs etc. The presentation also gives details about what happens in the weeks before an arrival and after a departure. National Park status, regulation, stats- and trends by Finn Nielsen Finn Nielsen from the Greenlandic Ministry of Nature [email protected] gives an overview of the past season seen from the expedition office (see notes above from AECO’s meeting with Finn in the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Justice in Nuuk).

7

Port Readiness, status/feedback and plans by Mads Skifte Mads Skifte ([email protected]) from Visit Greenland talks about how local communities can get ‘port ready’ before the start of the cruise season by defining their products and services, identifying who are responsible, etc. Visit Greenland has a checklist to help the local community when getting ready for a cruise visit. Experiences with Arctic Guides and guide education by Campus Kujalleq Rie Oldenburg ([email protected]) and Henrik Nielsen ([email protected] ) from Campus Kujalleq, Qaqortoq. The Arctic guide education has existed since 2013. Campus Kujalleq has educated in total 62 guides. The Campus has provided trainees to Hurtigrutens MV Fram. Now there is a new ‘adventure education’ with focus on outdoor adventure coming up.

8

Slides from Anders la Cour Vahls presentation of cruise development in Greenland

9

10

11