Mitsubishi Heavy Industres., the Japanese shipbuilder, will reportedly book a heavy loss from an order for two 124,500 gross ton cruise ship it won in 2011 from IDA Cruises, the German unit of Carnival Corp & plc, news reports say.
“The company also said that, while it would book an extraordinary loss of 60 billion yen from its cruise ship business, it would still be able to achieve its 150 billion yen net profit projection for this financial year,” the Reuters news agency reports, referring to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Cruise Business Online calculated at the time that the Japanese company agreed to build the ships at about €10,000 to €15,000 per berth cheaper than newbuilding orders placed with European builders at the time, indicating a discount of up to 10%, figures show.
On 3 August 2011, AIDA Cruises said, it had signed an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan to build two cruise liners of 124,500 gross tons each, with accommodation for 3,250 passengers. The ships are due for delivery in March 2015 and March 2016 and they will cost about €140,000 per lower berth each, AIDA Cruises said in a statement
AIDA’s 3,250 passenger vessels contracted in Japan will cost about €140,000 per lower berth. By comparison, the company agreed to pay €150,000 per lower berth on a 71,300 gross ton ship ordered at Meyer Werft in Germany last year. The ship will have 2,192 lower beds.
The most expensive contract in per berth terms of recent time has been an order Royal Caribbean International placed with Meyer Werft for a 158,000 gross ton Project Sunshine – since renamed the Quantum Class - vessel Quantum of the Seas with 4,100 lower berths: it will cost €170,000 per lower berth to build. The brand is part of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd group.
Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises, both parts of the Carnival Corp & plc group and sister companies of AIDA Cruises, agreed to pay €155,000 per lower berth for two and one 143,000 gross ton newbuilding at Fincantieri, respectively. All three ships will have 3,600 lower berths. Royal Princess, first of the two Princess ships, has since been delivered, while the second one will be named Regal Princess. The P&O Cruises’ ship will be called Britannia.
Norwegian Cruise Line that ordered two 143,500 gross ton newbuildings at Meyer Werft last year got their 4,000 passenger vessels at €150,000 per lower berth. These have since entered service as Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Breakaway
Mitsubishi built two ships for Princess Cruises – Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess – early in the previous decade, but has not won cruise liner orders since then.
