ABU DHABI // The Costa Fortuna cruise ship has docked in Abu Dhabi on her maiden voyage to the emirate.
The liner, the largest of the Italian Costa Cruises company’s Arabian Gulf fleet, arrived on Thursday.
The 107,000-tonne ship docked at Mina Zayed with 3,747 passengers and crew – the first batch of an expected 60,000 Costa Cruises’ passengers from 15 calls to the capital this season.
The ship spent a full day in Abu Dhabi before departing for Fujairah on its seven-day circular tour.
While in the capital, passengers can choose from 20 different shore excursions to explore the city’s diversity, according to Jasem Zaiton, cruise manager for Costa Cruises’ shore-based tour operator, Gulf Ventures.
“We have a strong range of cultural and premium shore excursions, many of which are new to market for this season and developed specifically for Costa’s guests in partnership with attraction and experience providers,” he said.
“Our ever-popular tours to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque followed by high tea or dinner at Emirates Palace, and full-day explorations of Al Ain’s Unesco World Heritage sites are now complemented by the option to enjoy a range of thrilling once-in-a-lifetime activities in the heart of the desert.
“We now offer guests so much more to see and do with tours that showcase the capital’s modern architecture, luxury shopping and golf experiences.
“Tours of traditional and contemporary cultural attractions, and dhow dinner-cruise options, together with opportunities to explore Yas Island with visits to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and a behind-the-scenes tour of Yas Marina Circuit are also proving very popular with Costa’s largely Italian clientele.”
Abu Dhabi is expected to welcome 76 arrivals from 14 ships at Zayed Port by the end of the season in April next year. About 192,000 passengers will be arriving, a 13 per cent increase from last season.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
The%20specs
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Recycle Reuse Repurpose
New central waste facility on site at expo Dubai South area to handle estimated 173 tonne of waste generated daily by millions of visitors
Recyclables such as plastic, paper, glass will be collected from bins on the expo site and taken to the new expo Central Waste Facility on site
Organic waste will be processed at the new onsite Central Waste Facility, treated and converted into compost to be re-used to green the expo area
Of 173 tonnes of waste daily, an estimated 39 per cent will be recyclables, 48 per cent organic waste and 13 per cent general waste.
About 147 tonnes will be recycled and converted to new products at another existing facility in Ras Al Khor
Recycling at Ras Al Khor unit:
Plastic items to be converted to plastic bags and recycled
Paper pulp moulded products such as cup carriers, egg trays, seed pots, and food packaging trays
Glass waste into bowls, lights, candle holders, serving trays and coasters
Aim is for 85 per cent of waste from the site to be diverted from landfill
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Company%20profile
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Al Jazira's foreign quartet for 2017/18
Romarinho, Brazil
Lassana Diarra, France
Sardor Rashidov, Uzbekistan
Mbark Boussoufa, Morocco