New associate member: Iceland Port Services

Iceland Port Services (IPS) is a stevedoring company that offers luggage handling, provision loading, waste offload and management for cruise ships calling to Reykjavik. More recently it has been managing stevedoring requests in Akureyri and Isafjordur where there is growing demand.

The company was started in 2019 by ceo Jon Thorir Sigurdarson who had noticed the difficulties of luggage loading in Reykjavik, as a then port agent, due to the extreme tidal differences. He came up with the idea of commissioning a custom-made conveyor belt and began offering the service.

Since then the company has grown but always with an eye on improvement. "This has always been in my DNA, thinking critically about any process, spotting where things can run better. To this day it is a core value for IPS. We are relentlessly looking for ways to meet our customers' demands, improve what we already do and add new services using new techniques and technologies," he explains.

The company now handles about 130 calls a year which shows the steady increase since 2019 when there were 25.

Sigurdarson says: "We work with cruiselines both through established port agent partnerships and directly, with several cruiselines who have a consistent presence and operations in
Iceland now choosing to contract with us independently. We want every call to go as smoothly
and efficiently as possible, for the passengers, the crew and the cruiseline. We are always committed to learning. We have visited peer companies to understand how the best operations in Europe are run, and those exchanges have shaped how we work. Joining Cruise Europe is a natural next step for us to be part of a wider community."

The company also manages expedition gear rentals in partnership with Ship to Shore Traveler, as well as handling luggage delivery and collection in partnership with Luggage Forward.

Sigurdarson says: "Currently, we are also in the process of expanding into hull maintenance services for the local fleet and cruiseships calling in Iceland."

To demonstrate IPS' versatility and ability to cater to unusual requests, the following example has been highlighted.

A logistics partner IPS works with had eight pallets of fresh produce scheduled to be loaded onboard a vessel during its call in Reykjavik but, due to unforeseen circumstances, the shipment was delayed and the ship set sail. Creative thinking was required.

As it happened, a small charter plane had been arranged to fly a handful of passengers from Keflavik airport to join the vessel in Greenland. The logistics partner was able to book the produce with that flight. Due to limited space, the pallets had to be broken down in order to fit into the cargo hold, empty seats and overhead compartments!

Sigurdarson explains: "The pallets came to our warehouse and the team got to work breaking them down completely. As it was almost only boxes of fruits and vegetables, which were all open top, we had to wrap each box in plastic film, partly for protection and partly to make sure no cabbage heads would go flying around the cabin in turbulence. The produce made it to Greenland, and made it onboard." Job done.