MPS Emily Brontë: Remote management for European sailing

The MPS Emily Brontë is a 5-star passenger ship for luxury Rhine cruises from March to November. Sometimes, the ship may be 3,000 kilometres from here. The client wanted to have the ship managed remotely, which is a feature of Priva. This makes it possible to act fast if there any problems with the climate installation.

The MPS Emily Brontë is 136 metres long, 13 metres wide and accommodates 169 passengers and 44 crew members. The ship has 6 different types of passenger cabins, a gift shop, spa & wellness, restaurant and lounge bar on board.

The MPS has two control boxes with Priva Blue ID, which regulate the climate in the restaurant and the air purification of all the passenger cabins. The control system can be operated remotely, so that maintenance engineers can always monitor the situation too. Errors are already visible before the guests on board are aware of anything. This makes it possible to investigate the problem in time and take rapid action.

Ship different from a building?

Priva partner Klimaatservice has a lot of experience with working on and around a ship. The company used to install the right control technology on more than 300 river cruise ships. "In terms of technology, it's not very different from a building," says Jacques van der Hoest from Klimaatservice Holland. "But the atmosphere during such a building project is very different. A regular group of people usually build the ships, so they know each other well. You can trust each other, and everyone is very helpful. The atmosphere is relaxed."

Excellent implementation and planning

John den Boef (manager Marine department Klimaatservice) agrees. "In terms of control technology, a ship is very much like a hotel. In other aspects, it's obviously very different. A ship is made of steel, requiring different mounting methods. And requirements for security and fire resistance are much more stringent. Furthermore, all the areas are much smaller, as is the space for the installations.”

The construction of the ship went smoothly. John den Boef: "That was partly because this was the third consecutive ship that we built. With a first ship, there are things you need to find out. This gets less with the second and by the third everything goes perfectly. And that was the MPS Emily Brontë. The implementation and planning were really excellent."

Remote management

We chose Priva partly because the client specifically wanted the possibility of remote management.  John den Boef: "With Priva, we can manage remotely, and we've been working with Priva for a very long time. It was therefore a logical choice. At Klimaatservice Holland, everyone can work with Priva."

"We also understand the huge added value of remote management for these ships. Often, they are a long way away. A cruise on the Danube goes right down to the Black Sea. And that's 3,000 kilometres from here. So, it's great if we can view the situation remotely. For example, if guests find the restaurant too hot. We can then investigate the cause. If there's a fault or if something's broken, we obviously need to go there. But we then have the advantage of knowing exactly what's wrong and we can send our engineer with the right tools."

On the way immediately

It doesn't happen often, but sometimes Jacques van der Hoest is suddenly required get on a plane or in the car. "The ship sails to Budapest, so if there's an error which needs sorting now, I immediately set off. Recently, an entry module broke. I was in the car the same day."

Klimaatservice likes working with Priva. "We do a lot with Priva and we regularly talk to each other. We have a good relationship, and if we have a problem, it's immediately resolved. That really works well."