The cruise operations of TUI AG, the German travel group that owns Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten in full and which has a 50% stake in TUI Cruises, have reported a deep operating loss, mainly due to weak performance of Hapag-Lloyd, which will face restructuring while TUI Cruises performed well, the parent company said in a statement.
In three months to 31 March, TUI’s cruisr operations generated a revenue of €69.1 million an increase from €62.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Operating result (EBITA) showed a loss of €48.8 million, a marked deterioration from a profit of €2.5 million in the same period last year.
In the six months to the end of March, i.e. the first half of the company’s financial year, revenues rose to €120.6 million from €102.3 million, but EBITA deteriorated to negative by €60.0 million from a figure negative by €5.7 million a yrar earlier.
“In the period under review, Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten had to carry an adjustment of €49.0m. As current trading fell short of the planned levels, above all for Europa 2, the resulting occupancy risks caused charter shortfalls, which led to the formation of a provision for pending losses from onerous contracts,’ TUI sad in a statement.
In the first half of 2012-13, occupancy of the fleet operated by Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten declined by 7.2 percentage points versus the prior year to 69.6%. In the period under review, 176,194 passenger days were generated, up 13.2% year-on-year.
“The development of these indicators was impacted by the operation of Columbus 2 in the period under review, while the substantially smaller Columbus had still been operated one year earlier. Due to the renewal of the fleet, passenger days rose in the period under review, while occupancy declined due to the capacity increase associated with Columbus 2. The average rate per passenger per day benefited from the fleet renewal, growing by around 7.2% to €417,” TUI said
By contrast, TUI Cruises that operated two ships in the first half of the 2012-13 financial year performed well, as in the prior year. “At 698,636 passenger days, capacity was flat on the prior year. At 100.1%, occupancy continued on the successful development of the prior year. Both ships contributed to this high load factor with the respective winter trade lanes Caribbean and Arabian Gulf. The average rate per passenger per day was €135, up 3.8% year-on-year,” TUI said.
In the Cruises Sector, TUI Cruises will continue the planned growth path and focus even more strongly on generating its cash flow contribution to TUI AG. “A restructuring programme has been launched for Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten. The planned measures include reductions in material and staff costs. Fleet occupancy is to be improved in the short term by means of ad-ditional marketing measures. In addition, a potential adjustment of the fleet structure will be examined,” the company said.
