Ponant senior executives gathered in Sydney yesterday to announce updates on its new generation of zero-emission ships, as well as Paspaley Pearl by Ponant.
Karryon was among a group of media yesterday at a Sydney restaurant, joining Sarina Bratton AM, Ponant Global Senior Strategic Advisor, Honorary Chairwoman Asia Pacific; Deb Corbett, General Manager Sales & Marketing Asia Pacific; Charles Boutet, Director of Marketing & Communications; and special guest Belinda Hindmarsh, Group Deputy CEO Global Business, who was visiting the APAC region.
At the event, executives for the luxury French cruise brand revealed that it has selected the Syroco EfficientShip platform to support the design and digital modelling of the innovative Swap2Zero project.
A digital twin based on physics and artificial intelligence will make it possible to simulate the behaviour of the different components of the ship to evaluate her energy consumption and minimise her emissions.
Swap2Zero is the first transoceanic ship concept that aims for carbon neutrality when sailing, maneuvering, in port or at anchor. Her carbon footprint will be reduced throughout her life cycle.
The upcoming Ponant ship will be the 14th in its fleet and is projected to be ready by 2030. It will combine renewable energy provided by wind and sun, fuel cells and carbon capture devices.
Ponant executives discuss the updates
At yesterday’s gathering, Belinda Hindmarsh Group Deputy CEO Global Business was introduced by Deb Corbett.
“Belinda brings international strength to the global business with a strong trade background and an amazing wealth of knowledge and skill,” said Corbett.
“Belinda is responsible for overseeing brand, product strategy, guest experience, sales, marketing and communications activity on a global level,” she explained..
Hindmarsh left her native New Zealand to study international business in Copenhagen, Denmark, before settling in Rome, Italy where she has been based for the past 20 years. She has held various international roles in operations, marketing, supplier management, and commercial functions at CWT, Expedia Group, and Aer Lingus.
She previously held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief growth officer at CWT, formerly known as Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
Speaking about the travel industry, Hindmarsh described it as “incredible”.
“It’s very competitive, it’s very fast paced –but it’s incredibly innovative. And there’s a lot of force for good in what we’re doing and bringing people together across nations, particularly at times like this. For me, travel has always been part of my DNA and I really, truly believe it’s such an exciting industry,” said Hindmarsh.
Hindmarsh said it was a “privilege” to work for a company with such history and as true pioneers in the industry.
“It’s testament to the DNA of the team and this will to always do better and to continue to explore and really push the boundaries,” said Hindmarsh.
“There’s certainly a lot of focus on really innovating and making sure that we are leading from the front on all topics related to sustainable travel. So what’s ahead? I think there’s so many things we can do. Certainly being here is such an important milestone and I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved here as a team. Asia Pacific represents more than 20 per cent of our business today – so it’s a huge percentage of what we’re doing overall and I think the potential to grow is immense,” said Hindmarsh.
Looking to the future, Hindmarsh said there were more opportunities for the company in terms of bringing the whole journey together, particularly for international guests who are coming from further afield and being able to offer door-to-door service.
Sarina Bratton AM spoke about the cruise company’s new partnership with Paspaley, launching a 30-guest vessel Paspaley Pearl by Ponant.
“We’re working with Paspaley in delivering what we can see as being unique. It’s about those pearling experiences that are pretty much only open to VIPs who are invited. So if you can imagine going through to their vessels to their pearl farms through harvest season, through the seeding season – and the seeding season is where you’ve got only Japanese technicians that specialise, and there’ll be 20 of them in what I’ve termed like a ‘hospital ship for pearls’ – where they do a seeding technique and they look like surgeons, right?”
“They’re operating on the pearl, so to actually get to see, feel, understand what goes behind making the world’s most beautiful pearls in our country is very moving. It really is, it’s something that you can’t get to experience otherwise” said Bratton.
Speaking about the exact timing of the launch of Paspaley Pearl by Ponant, Bratton said that they want to “make sure that we are not in a position that we’re going to disappoint our guests or disrupt our guests. So whatever the date is, when we finally get the website up and the brochure delivered, we’re going to be very confident that we’re going to be starting then. We want to err on the side of caution, rather than being bullish – and that’s something that we are agreed on as partners working together,” said Bratton.
Earlier this week, Bratton also spoke exclusively to Karryon’s cruise contributor Sally Macmillan about the boom in luxury expedition cruising.
For more information, visit ponant.com
