TUI AG, the German travel company, has reported a deepening of underlying operating losses for its cruise operations on continued weakness of Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten, the luxury and destinational brand, while TUI Cruises continues to improve its strong performance.
In three months to 31 December 2013, the first quarter of the group's financial year, turnover by Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten rose by 7% year-on-year to €55 million due to the capacity increase achieved with the launch of Europa 2. "No turnover is shown for TUI Cruises as the joint venture is measured at equity in the consolidated financial statements," the company said.
"Due to the low occupancy and increased capacity in Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten and the two dry-dock periods of Europa, the operating result of the Cruises Sector decreased to a loss of €16 million (previous year a loss of €11 million). TUI Cruises continued to show a positive development in the period under review. Demand for the two winter lanes, Caribbean and Canaries, was strong," TUI said.
Occupancy of Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten decreased by 7 percentage points to 60.8% (previous year 68.1%). The average rate per passenger per day fell slightly by 1.3% to €368. " Both indicators were strongly impacted by the time in dock, which caused changes in the cruise programme,the company said.
“In Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten, we have initiated the turnaround by means of a change in management. In total, I am therefore far more optimistic for this segment than I was a year ago,” said Friedrich Joussen, group ceo, in a statement.
Thomson Cruises, which operates five ships on the British market, is not included in these figures as it is part of TUI Travel plc, a London based company that is listed there and in which TUI AG is the biggest shareholder.
