Based on its Baltic Market Review 2015, Cruise Baltic reported a “varying growth rates” in the region. Alan Lam reports from Miami.
The review, conducted amongst the 28 Cruise Baltic destinations plus St. Petersburg, Kiel and Riga, summarizes the 2014 results and forecasts for 2015.
Collectively, for 2014, Cruise Baltic partner ports suffered a 1.8% decrease in passenger numbers and 5.3% fall in cruise calls, as compared to the previous year. However the total number of turnarounds has increase by 1.7%.
Looking at it from a wider perspective, since 2000, the number of cruise passengers visiting the region has increased by an average of 10.3% per annum, from 1.1 million in 2000 to nearly 4.3 million in 2014; the number of calls increased by an average annual rate of 3.3% for the same period, from 1,533 to 2,418; and the number of turnarounds increased by an average annual rate of 7.6%, from 106 to 416.
In 2014, among the top five ports of the region, only Rostock saw growth of 5.4%, to 509,000 passengers; Tallinn suffered a decrease of 7.8% to 479,000; Stockholm has decreased by 3.2% to 470,000; and Copenhagen, the largest port in terms of passenger throughput, has decreased by 7.7% to 739,000.
The number of calls in 2014 decreased in all top five ports: Tallinn decreased by10%, Copenhagen by 9.8%, Helsinki by 7.4%, St. Petersburg by 6% and Stockholm by 5.4%.
Copenhagen continued to be the largest turnaround port, with 129. Rostock was the only destination that experienced a major growth of 65%, from 60 to 99.
Among the large segment of Baltic ports - comprising Rostock, Oslo, Kiel, Kristiansand, Gothenburg, Klaipeda, Riga, Visby and Gdynia – growth has continued at 4%, from 1,530,688 passengers in 2013 to 1,591,361 in 2014.
In the medium segment - comprising Gdansk and Ronne – an increase of 11.6% has been achieved with 45,815 passengers compared to 41,070 in 2013. In this regard, Gdansk has experienced the strongest growth with 42.5%.
Gothenburg and Klaipeda moved from medium to the large segment, on account of an increase of the number of calls: Gothenburg moved from 39 in 2013 to 73 in 2014 and Klaipeda moved from 40 to 63 in the same period.
Overall the passenger figure in the small segment has decreased by 16.3%, with great variation within the group, thus contributing to the overall fall in traffics.
The falling trend is expected to continue in 2015. A 1.6% fall in passenger number, 4.5% further fall in calls, and 5% fall in turnarounds are expected. The top five ports will experience a 1.1% fall in passenger numbers; but the smaller ports are expected to experience a 45% increase in passenger traffic because of higher numbers of calls expected.
“As a region we are aware of the potentially negative impact of the new ECA environmental regulations,” said Claus Bødker, Cruise Baltic Director, “which have come into effect as of 1 January this year; however, because the Baltic Sea is a strong product with significant customer demand, that is why there is only a marginal decrease in passenger numbers for 2015. I believe the 2014 figures established in this review represent a realistic reflection of the current cruise industry marketplace.”