3 November 2020, Hanover, GERMANY & Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA: Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services—an experienced global business offering ground handling and port operations services to the cruise industry, is partnering with Vikand Solutions—a global maritime medical operations and healthcare solutions provider—to develop a Global Port Medical Network.
The Global Port Medical Network will help in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting the safe return to service of the cruise and wider maritime industry. With local presence in ports around the world, Intercruises will use the collective local knowledge and relationships of its team to collate key information about medical facilities in different locations. This information will populate a continually evolving database managed by the Vikand team, who will also work with Intercruises in defining and implementing medical protocols according to destination resources.
“We are proud to have already played a role in the safe return to cruising, but we must continue to take actions that will support this process,” states Olga Piqueras, Intercruises Managing Director. “By working with Vikand on this initiative we are using Intercruises’ local presence and relationships to better support our cruise line clients and the communities in which we work.”
The Global Port Medical Network will aid cruise businesses in adhering to protocols set forth by the EU Healthy Gateways commission and other national health authorities. These require cruise operators to have agreements in place with local health agencies and/or health care providers, ensuring that ambulance and medical care can be provided for COVID-19 cases.
“A first partnership within Vikand’s broader Vikand Medical Network (VMN), the Global Port Medical Network we’ve designed with Intercruises is a comprehensive system of destination medical services and providers that have existing port agency working relationships. With this tool, we can ensure there are medical facilities prepared to assist if needed, further strengthening our clients’ safe return to service, and giving them and their guests peace of mind,” says Peter Hult, Vikand CEO. “The initiative with Intercruises means we can truly say that we are ready to provide support in situations where there are potential shipboard COVID-19 cases.”
About Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services
Intercruises is an experienced global business offering turnaround, shore excursion, port agency and hotel services to the ocean and river cruise industry. Cruise specialist teams handle all vessel, guest and crew needs, before, during and after a ship’s time in port. Intercruises is part of TUI Musement. Find out more and follow us:
- Web: intercruises.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercruises
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_intercruises
About TUI Musement
TUI Musement is a leading Tours & Activities business. It combines a scalable digital platform with local service delivery, to offer excursions, activities, tickets and transfers in more than 50 countries worldwide. There are over 130,000 ‘things to do’ in all major holiday and city destinations, which are distributed through B2B partners, and via the Musement and TUI websites to the 21 million annual TUI customers. TUI Musement is one of the major growth areas of TUI Group and in FY19, generated a revenue of EUR 1.2bn delivered by 9.000 colleagues. In 2018, TUI’s Tours & Activities division acquired Musement, a leading travel tech start-up. Following a two-year transition period, they became one fully integrated business known as TUI Musement - combining the global reach, strong resources and high quality in-destination service delivery of TUI, with the digital capabilities, agile working methodology and start-up mindset of Musement. TUI Musement offers services to cruise lines through Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services.
About VIKAND
VIKAND provides global medical and public health service solutions to the entire maritime industry, including cruise, yacht, superyacht, commercial shipping, fishing, and energy sectors. VIKAND works with more than 200 cruise ship clients—spread over 23 cruise lines—supporting 120,000 crew with medical and mental wellness needs supported by experienced onboard and onshore medical staffs. VIKAND’s proven medical and public health expertise and experience is demonstrated through a proactive and evidence-based healthcare approach, the VIKAND Total Healthcare Solution and is coordinated with global regulatory agencies and industry associations. Solutions encompass 24/7 medical management, public health, and COVID-19 consulting, biomedical equipment maintenance and products, and leading air and surface decontamination solutions. VIKAND recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and was awarded the Seatrade Cruise Awards Supplier of the Year 2020 in October.
Contacts
- Commentary: Peter Hult, CEO, Vikand, peter.hult@vikand.com, +1 754.715.4961
- Editorial Services—Intercruises: Stephen Denton, denton@intercruises.com, (+34) 619 341 883
- Editorial Services—Vikand: Amy Halsted, amyhalsted@gmail.com, +1 207.432.7239
