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Viking takes delivery of Viking Neptune

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 10 November 2022 10 November 2022

Viking Neptune, the newest ocean cruise ship which Fincantieri has built for the shipowner Viking, has been delivered today at the shipyard in Ancona. The unit is placed in the small cruise ship segment. As its sister ships, she is about 47,800 tons, with 465 cabins to accommodate up to 930 passengers.

Viking Neptune, ninth of this class, marks a quantum leap in the longstanding cooperation between Viking and Fincantieri for designing, delivering and operating environmentally considerate cruise vessels. The two companies, indeed, keep on cooperating for developing pioneering applications based on hydrogen fuel cells, aiming to achieve an increasing reduction of GHG emissions.

Viking Neptune embodies the first result of such cooperation, as a hydrogen fuel cell module, with a nominal power of 100 kW, has been fitted on board as a test. Such installation is particularly important for tuning technological devices and developing rules and regulations for use of hydrogen on board a cruise vessel.

This year Viking and Fincantieri have also strengthen their collaboration going beyond the joint R&D activity and aiming to develop large scale hydrogen applications, significantly contributing to the reduction of GHG emissions of the vessels. As a first step the two companies have designed an enlarged vessel configuration (to be applied to the vessels to be delivered after 2024), defining spaces and arrangements for accommodating the increased size of hydrogen tank, the fuel cell systems and relevant auxiliaries. The second step will be the development of a hydrogen-based generation system with a total power of about 6-7 MW, (the largest size ever tested on board a cruise vessel) and able to ensure smokeless port operation and slow steaming navigation. Such systems, once finalized, could be installed on the vessels under construction and, as far as possible, retrofitted on the vessels already delivered.

With such joint project of cooperation, Viking and Fincantieri aim to maintain a position of technological leadership and to contribute to the future development of even more environmentally considerate cruise vessels

Queen Anne to be delayed by four months

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 10 November 2022 10 November 2022

Delivery of Queen Anne, the fourth ship of Carnival Corporation & plc group member Cunard, will be delayed by four months to the beginning of May 2024, it has beeb reported. The ship is under construction at Fincantieri in Italy.

Royal Caribbean Group leads recovery of results among listed majors

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 09 November 2022 09 November 2022

As all three major listed cruise shipping companies have now published their third quarter interims, it has emerged that Royal Caribbean Group (RCG) leads the recovery of results among the three.

It was the only one to report a net profit for the third quarter and its net loss for the first nine months of the year was smaller than its two peers, Carnival Corporation & plc and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH).

Third quarter net results

3Q22 v 3Q21

Carnival -770 -2,836

RCG +33 -1,430

NCLH -295 -846

All figures in millions of dollars.

Carnival group’s figures to 31 August.

Source: Carnival Corporation & plc, RCG, NLCH

First to third quarter net results

1Q-3Q22 v 1Q-3Q21

Carnival -4,995 -6,881

RCG -1,666 -3,903

NCLH -1,787 -2,934

All figures in millions of dollars.

Carnival group’s figures to 31 August.

Source: Carnival Corporation & plc, RCG, NLCH

Former Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono has passed away

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 November 2022 08 November 2022

Giuseppe Bono, former CEO of the Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, has passed away. He was 78.

“Italy mourns the death of Giuseppe Bono, historical guide of Fincantieri and a leading figure in the Italian industry. A painful loss for the whole nation. I extend to his family the most sincere condolences from me and from the Italian Government," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on Twitter.

Bono received several honours, including one of Legion d’Honneur in France, an Italian news agency report said

NCLH to work on finances, 2023 booking trend positive, but fourth quarter 2022 loss looms

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 November 2022 08 November 2022

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH), the world’s third largest listed cruise shipping group, said it would continue to work on its financial flexibility and that booking trends for next year were encouraging. However, it forecast a net loss for the fourth quarter of 2022.

“We are on track to generate positive Adjusted Free Cash Flow in the fourth quarter as we continue to march towards our expected return to historical occupancy levels beginning in the second quarter of 2023,” said Mark A. Kempa, executive vice president and chief financial officer.

“We are proactively working to further enhance our financial flexibility and liquidity, including the amendment and extension of our Operating Credit Facility which we expect to complete by year-end,” he said in a statement.

As expected, NCLH’s current cumulative booked position for the fourth quarter of 2022 is below the comparable 2019 period but at higher prices even when including the dilutive impact of future cruise credits (“FCCs”). “Dilution from value-add FCCs issued during the pandemic will not carry over into 2023 as the bonus portion of these FCCs expire at year-end 2022,” the company said.

Booking trends for full year 2023 remain positive with cumulative booked position equal to record 2019 levels inclusive of increase in capacity. “Pricing is significantly higher than that of 2019 at a similar point in time for full year 2023. Net booking volumes continue to be at the pace needed to reach historical Load Factor levels in 2023,” NCLH said.

At the end of September, NCLH’s advance ticket sales balance, including the long- term portion, was $2.5 billion. “This includes approximately $260 million of FCCs or approximately 10% of the total deposit balance. Approximately 60% of the FCC balance outstanding has been applied to future sailings. Gross advance ticket sales build was approximately $1.5 billion during the quarter, in line with the prior quarter,” the company noted.

NCLH said that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and current macroeconomic conditions, it would report a net loss for the fourth quarter of 2022.