Unlike in the rest of Europe where there are many river cruise ship builders and players, in Portugal there is one, Douro Azul, that all the U.S. river cruise lines work with.
"My model of operation is that I do not want to sell retail," said Mario Ferreira, founder and CEO of Douro Azul, during an interview in Porto earlier this month, in between bites of grilled sardines at a lunch counter outside the company's newly revamped headquarters. "I want to focus on operation … and we adjust our operation to [each] brand, so each ship is unique in design, in conception."
Ferreira builds river cruise ships that sail the Douro River, but he does not sell them; they remain under Douro Azul's ownership, and he charters them. That's the way Douro Azul prefers to do business, and thus that's the way U.S. river cruise lines do business there.
"I can grow faster this way," he said. "And I trust they don't compete with me, and they trust I don't compete with them. So everybody is happy."
Like in the rest of Europe, Douro Azul is seeing a growing demand for new ships and consequently introduced two new vessels last month and will launch two more next year.
At the end of March, Douro Azul hosted a star-studded dual christening ceremony for the 106-passenger AmaVida, which AmaWaterways has a five-year charter on, and for the 118-passenger Queen Isabel, which Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection is chartering. The AmaVida was christened by Sharon Stone and the Queen Isabel by Andie MacDowell. The gala event also featured a performance by Michael Bolton. Ferreira has a knack for flair.
The new river cruise ships are sailing the classic Douro River itinerary between Porto and Vega Terron, Spain, through the Douro River's famed wine region, a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The two vessels Douro Azul will launch next year will be chartered by Viking River Cruises (this year, Viking is chartering the 124-passenger Viking Douro, formerly the Douro Spirit, a ship launched in 2011 that Uniworld had been chartering).
The Ama and Uniworld vessels launched this year mark a new standard of river cruising in Portugal, in line with the high-end vessels plying the rest of Europe in rapidly growing numbers.
"I wanted a new ship with bigger cabins," Ama President Rudi Schreiner said about working with Ferreira on the new ship design.
On the AmaVida, the 215-square-foot cabins on the upper two decks all have small but adequate balconies as well as a cozy interior seating area. The cabins' unique bathroom layout features a separate room for the toilet and a standing shower and is entirely clad in marble.
The vessel also has two 323-square-foot suites on the upper deck, and the 16 lower-deck cabins are 161 square feet each. There is an alfresco dining area adjacent to the main restaurant that can seat 32 passengers for a separate three-course dinner (seating in this dining area must be reserved in advance). There is also a small fitness room, massage and facial services, a heated pool on the sundeck and a gift shop.
Ferreira said that the Viking ships coming online in 2014 will have 53 cabins each and will have a different design from the AmaVida and Queen Isabel, but he didn't elaborate.
According to Ferreira, he can build a ship in Portugal for between $16.3 million and $17 million. The river cruise vessels in Portugal are considerably smaller than those in Europe due to lock constraints on the Douro (ships on the Douro can't measure more than 260 feet in length and 37 feet in width, whereas ships in Europe can be a maximum of 443 feet long and 38 feet wide), but the price tag is about half of what it costs to build a ship in the rest of Europe. It appears Douro Azul is able to built ships at a value compared to other shipyards in Europe.
Able to build river cruise ships for a good value, Ferreira is also trying to court shipbuilders in the rest of Europe with favorable Portuguese construction and labor costs.
"Why not export vessels, as well?" said Ferreira, talking tentatively about prospective business opportunities beyond Portugal.
Douro Azul started 20 years ago operating day cruises up and down the Portuguese river. In 1997, the company inked a deal with Uniworld and in 1998 launched its first overnight passenger vessel for the U.S. market, the 80-passenger Douro Princess.
The company's new headquarters, a sprawling warehouse complex, was rebuilt to accommodate Ferreira's growing empire, which now consists of 10 vessels (increasing to 12 in 2014, a total of 1,000 beds), a helitour operation and BlueBus City Tour, a Porto sightseeing hop-on-hop-off service.
For now, Ferreira doesn't have plans to add more ships beyond 2014. First, he wants to make sure the demand materializes and is sustainable before committing to more ships. And who knows what other businesses or side projects he will be working on in the meantime. His company is currently spending $7.8 million to build World of Discoveries, a theme park in Porto devoted to 16th century Portuguese discoveries slated to open in October.
Visit www.douroazul.pt.
Follow Michelle Baran on Twitter @mbtravelweekly.