Audrey D'Angelo
For the first time MSC Cruises, so far the only cruise line to operate from Cape Town and Durban during our summer months, is inviting South Africans to apply for jobs on board its fleet of 12 ships that sail all year round in different parts of the world.
At present it provides about 2 200 direct and indirect jobs in this country as a result of the regular summer cruises aboard the two ships, Sinfonia and the larger Opera, that attract mainly South African passengers on short cruises along our coast and to neighbouring countries, and international passengers on its placing and return journeys between this country and the Italian port of Genoa.
But Neil Palomba, the chief operating officer of the line, said it was now offering career opportunities to South Africans with experience in the hospitality industry in a variety of positions, including guest services, buffet attendants, waiters and waitresses, shore excursion hosts, shop assistants, casino dealers and housekeeping staff.
In addition to the skills they already had, new staff would be given training in safety at sea. The company attached great importance to this aspect although no MSC ship had ever been involved in any disaster.
MSC hoped to contribute substantially to job creation and to skills development. It now had a dedicated careers section in its website, www.msccruises.co.za, detailing the opportunities it could provide.
Palomba said the cruise industry was becoming more popular. The US was its strongest market but it was becoming more popular in Asia, particularly among Chinese passengers, and this trend was expected to gather pace.
One of the advantages for the cruise industry was that it could respond to market changes by moving resources from one part of the world to another.
MSC is the market leader in the Mediterranean, South Africa and Brazil but it operates throughout the world, with seasonal itineraries in northern Europe, the Atlantic, Caribbean, French Antilles, South America, south and west Africa and the Red Sea.
