Madeira News Blog

(16th September). ‘Bank Complaints Rise 27%’. The number of customers complaining about their banks rose 27% in the first 6 months of this year.

The government of Madeira will compensate farmers whose grapes do not reach the minimum standards (grade). The weather conditions have hampered the ripening of the grape crop, worrying farmers that their produce may not reach the ‘minimum degree of alcohol’ needed for Madeira Wine and table wine. The compensation will be between €0.50 and €0.60 a kilo, depending on the destination for use. Another type of grape ‘Arnsburger’ will attract less compensation.

‘Building project thinking about the foreign investor – ‘Monumental Residence’ cost €10.5 million. The 2nd phase was inaugurated yesterday’. It looks like many other buildings in Amparo, Pilar and even Ajuda, but this new building near the Rotunda da Assicom, in Funchal, is built with the aim of selling the 55 apartments to external investors, foreigners, or even emigrants that want a second home on Madeira. Sales are going well according to a spokesman for the building, which also includes 9 commercial units. An average T2 apartment there will be in the price range of €175,000 to €200,000. "In relation to what is normal, these apartments are 25 or 30% more expensive than market prices". Why? And who chose that silly name?

The last of today’s headlines (for today) : ‘Siram Win Tender – End of year illuminations are judged. The lowest price was worth nothing, as proposed by ‘Inductora’. The Siram consortium ‘Luzosfera’, who have had the contract for Christmas and new year lighting and decorations in Funchal for many years, have been reawarded the contract, despite the entrance of an under bidder in the tender contest. The Regional Secretary of Tourism and Transport assessed the two proposals using a points system, and awarded the contract once again to Siram, who have been in the chair for 20 years unopposed. The two areas that swung the deal were experience, and creativity in the new proposal. The two year contract, worth €6.5 million, also includes the Carnival and Flower Festival. The Siram consortium is made up of six sub-holdings, being Luzosfera, Art of Sound, ‘Festival Factory’, Stage Madeira, Kevents, and Full Zoom. Original blog article with more detail HERE

Duarte Ferreira, Director at Madeira Airport, said: “The launch of this new scheduled route is extremely positive news for Madeira and will open up this beautiful region to many more visitors. The creation of this brand new link, especially at a time when other operators are looking to cut costs and services, plays such an important role for tourism in the region, benefiting the local economy and people working and living on the island. We hope that this partnership with Jet2.com will result in the opening of several new routes from the UK in the near future”. Talking about the Jet2 announcement that it is to commence a weekly scheduled flight from Manchester to Madeira May next year.

The cruise ship ‘Pacific Dream’ will be making its last visit here on Friday. At least there is no agreement made that signifies that it will be returning.

(15^th May) Aquaparque (Aquapark) reopened its doors on Friday morning, signifying the Summer season is pretty much underway. Prices have been frozen since 2006, with adults paying €6.50, children €4, and OAPS and under 4’s allowed in free. There are group discounts also available. Last year during the Summer season, around 60,000 visitors were admitted, the best year ever. I am looking forward to reaching 65, for the fact that I will be able to get into Aquapark without paying. I bet they don’t see many pensioners on those watershutes, or in the black hole, but I will be thereevery day  when my time comes, I promise.

(16^th May). ‘Crisis Equivalent To 11 Hotels Without Customers During 3 Months’. Madeira has lost 45 thousand tourists, 208 thousand hotel nights, and €12.5 million of revenue in just 90 days. Madeira was however the best performer in tourism terms, in Portugal, during March … “that signifies that the region is recovering from the crisis” (!?!?!). To judge by the indicators of air traffic at Madeira Airport, the evidence is clear that there are less tourists landing : from the United Kingdom (-25.5%), Germany (-9.3%), Denmark (-33.4%), Sweden (-29.6%) , France (-31.3%), Netherlands (-21.6%) and Spain (-51.1%), with the only incidence of numbers of passengers increasing coming from Portugal (+4.2%).

(16^th May). The cruise ship ‘Atlantic Star’ is to be replaced by the ‘Pacific Dream’  at the end of this month. The cruise ship will transfer its crew across to the more modern and economical vessel, which has become available after the cancellation of all cruises to Mexico, because of the Bird Flu epidemic (I just translate, so don’t write in complaining that I have got it wrong please). The ‘Pacific Dream’ has never been to Funchal under that name, but has visited before as the ‘Island Star’. It was built in 1990, has a gross tonnage of 47,000, is 208 metres long and 29 metres wide.

(17^th May). Today’s main headline : ‘Ship Owners Return To Bringing Cargo Into Funchal – Portuguese ship owners demand conditions equal to the Naviera Armas ferry. APRAM prepares limitations for the Spanish and is not going to authorize the operation that would bring back to the city 50 thousand lorries a year and increase the freight’.  The National Association of Ship Owners has formally requested permission to unload in the port of Funchal, like the Madeira – Portugal ferry does. It would mean the return of 50 thousand trucks a year to Funchal.  The request comes with the message that they want the right to offload “on equal terms with Naviera Armas, in order to stop an illegal and discriminatory situation, which is a source of serious damage”. This includes 5 shipping companies that cover the ‘Madeira line’, Empresa de Navegação Madeirense, Transinsular, Vieira & Silveira, Portline and Boxline. The president of the Board of Administration of Ports of Madeira (APRAM) confirms the receipt of the proposal, but makes it clear that “the port of Funchal is a port especially designed for cruise tourism, with a complementary service for the operation of ferry vessels … it makes sense that we allow situations for the process of loading and unloading”, referring to the exception made for the ferry cargo. “The transport of goods is to be carried out in the port of Caniçal, since any and all movements occurring in the port of Funchal will always be intended primarily for the carriage of passengers and related to tourism. The Government will do everything to safeguard the interests of passengers in this port, and in this context, preserve all the conditions and all the logistics involved”, he adds. This might not be as simple to push away as it seems, as the Diário points out that the Armas has special financial terms which other shippers do not get, creating a situation of unfair competition.