Regent may offload oldest ship if orders newbuilding
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 26 June 2012 26 June 2012
Regent Seven Seas Cruises, the top end of the market operator, may offload its oldest unit in case it decides to proceed with a newbuilding, a senior company official told Cruise Business Online.
The company, which is part of the Prestige Cruise Holdings group, is studying a 750 passenger newbuilding project, said Graham Sadler, Managing Director UK of the Florida headquartered Regent.
In case it decides to place an order, it may be worthwhile for regent to limit capacity growth and to offload the 1999 built Seven Seas Navigator, the oldest ship in the three vessel fleet of the company. The 28,550 gross ton ship has 490 lower berths and it is the smallest unit in the company’ s fleet: the Seven Seas Mariner and Seven Seas Voyager both have 708 berths.
Regent has been able to increase prices in the recent past and it has invested in upgrades of its fleet, including Seven Seas Navigator. Replacing this ship with a larger newbuilding would help the company to obtain a coherent fleet in terms of size, Sadler said.
A sale or chartering out of Seven Seas Navigator could help to mitigate capacity increase once the new vessel would be delivered, thereby helping the company to maintain positive development in pricing.
Sadler said that no decision has been made as yet with regards of either placing a newbuilding order or to offload Seven Seas Navigator. He dismissed rumours that an order at Fincantieri would be imminent or that the company would use an option for a third 68,000 gross ton newbuilding of sister company Oceania Cruises that would be redesigned to meet Regent’s needs. Sadler noted that Oceania hull would be too large for Regent.
Finance gaining importance in shipbuilding – Antonini
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 26 June 2012 26 June 2012
The ability of shipbuilders to provide attractive finance to prospective customers is becoming increasingly important in shipbuilding, including passenger vessels, said Corrado Antonini, Chairman of Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilding group.
“Competition moves from design and innovation to financing,” he told the European Cruise council’s annual meeting in Brussels.
Four European yards – Fincantieri, STX France, STX Finland and Meyer Werft - have built 90% of the cruise capacity built since 1990, when measured by lower berths. To maintain this position, European yards need to innovate on a broad scale, ranging from technical to environmental matters, Antonini said.
European cruise market growth outpaced world average 2011
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 26 June 2012 26 June 2012
The European source market for cruises grew by 13% to hit 6.2 million last year, thereby outpacing the figure for the while world, which increased by 10% to 20.6 million passengews, figures published at the European Cruise Council’s annual meeting in Brussels show.
The direct economic contribution of the industry grew by €0.5 billion to hit €15.0 billion last year, an all time high. However, shipbuilding and shipyard recorded a 7.9% fall in their contribution, marking a third year of a decline in row, said Michael Thamm, future CEO of Costa Crociere group, who presented the Cruise Industry 2012 report today.
The industry employs a total of 315,500 persons in Europe and it has added 100,000 jobs since 2005, while the economic contribution has doubled in the same time, Thamm said.
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