News

Comment: CMV delivers on growth strategy

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 29 November 2019 29 November 2019

Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), the UK based destinational operator that has foothold in many source markets, has delivered on its previously announced expansion plans as it on 28 November unveiled the acquisition of two ships from P&O Cruises Australia.

CMV intends to keep all of its existing six vessels, when the present day Pacific Dawn will join its UK fleet and Pacific Aria its TransOcean Kreuzfahrten unit in Germany in the summer of 2021.

Degree of homogeneity emerges

Pacific Dawn was built as the final unit in a series of three ships delivered to Princess Cruises in 1989-91 and it is a near sister of Columbus, built as Star Princess as the first unit of the class in 1989.

Pacific Aria is a Statendam class ship built for Holland America Line in 1994 and a sister ship of Vasco da Gama, which CMV acquired from P&O Cruises Australia, and introduced on the German and Australian markets earlier this year.

This is interesting as CMV has been able to build a certain degree of homogeneity through acquisitions of second hand tonnage. If we look several to the past, this was often very difficult to achieve due to the fact that long series of ships were not really built before the 1990s. Now ships of this vintage are available on the second hand market.

CMV’s expansion has not meant just more ships: the 1987 built 21,000 gross ton Astor will be introduced on the French market under a French brand in two years’ time. The company already has foothold in the US, Australia and Mexico as well, although the UK and Germany generate 85% of its passengers, according to company officials.

As orderbooks for cruise ship newbuildings are at a record high level, with more than 100 ships contracted, good quality tonnage built in the 1990s and son probably also early in the new decade can be expected to become available on the second hand market.

Little activity on second hand market

Against this background, it is perhaps surprising that only Marella Cruises, the UK focused line in the TUI AG group, has actively purchased second hand ships in recent years.

It has added two former Vision class ships of Royal Caribbean International and two Century class vessels built for Celebrity Cruises, all of mid-1990s vintage, since it started its fleet renewal in 2016.

It has stated that the remaining two, pre-1990 ships should also be replaced by newer and probably larger tonnage in the next few years.

Although Marella Cruises has increased its capacity by introducing larger vessels, the number of ships in its fleet has not grown as the new, owned acquisition have replaced older, chartered in tonnage.

The cruise market is quite consolidated and although several good quality vessels could available for purchase, it is difficult to launch a new cruise brand.

It would have to differ from existing offerings in a meaningful way, yet it should not be too narrow in its appeal to be commercially viable.

CMV acquires one P&O Cruises Australia ship for UK, other for Germany

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 28 November 2019 28 November 2019

Cruise & Maritime Voyages, the UK based destinational cruise operator that activities in several countries, has acquired two ships from P&O Cruises Australia, one for the UK and the other for Germany. Both will be introduced in 2021.

The 1991 built present day Pacific Dawn of 70,285 gross tons will be renamed before entry into service on the UK market in the spring of 2021. It was built for Princess Cruises as Regal Princess and is fairly similar to the former Star Princess of 1989 (not to be confused with the present ship of the same name) that operates under the CMV house flag as Columbus on the UK market as well.

The 55,819 gross ton Pacific Aria will be introduced under a yet to be decided name on the German market, also in 2021, flying the house flag of CMV’s TransOcean Kreuzfahrten unit. It is a sister ship of Vasco da Gama that CMV acquired from the Australian company last year. Both ships were built in the early 1990s for Holland America Line.

“CMV will take delivery of P&O Australia's Pacific Dawn (tbr) and Pacific Aria (tbr) in Singapore on the 2nd March and 2nd May 2021 respectively, increasing lower bed fleet capacity to 9000 berths and passenger capacity by 30% in 2021,” the company said in a statement.

The duo will be officially re-named in summer 2021 following dry docking, some minor upgrade and re-livery works in Singapore before embarking on CMV maiden positioning voyages via the Suez Canal to Northern Europe.

Pacific Dawn with 798 passenger cabins and carrying about 1400 passengers will be deployed on the UK market in late May 2021 bolstering much needed capacity and cruising year- round alongside Columbus ex-London Tilbury.

Pacific Aria with 630 passenger cabins and carrying about 1100 passengers will be deployed on the German market under the TransOcean Kreuzfahrten brand with a much-needed increase in capacity cruising alongside Vasco da Gama and replacing the 580 passenger Astor. She is being re-named Jules Verne and will be re-deployed to the French market in May 2021.

Christian Verhounig, CEO commented, "The introduction of two more ships to the global ocean fleet is the next exciting chapter of our strategic growth objectives. This will enable us to service increasing market demand for our traditional brand of cruising generated by our expanding international network of in-house sales offices and developing source markets. We have now acquired five cruise ships in just five years and are firmly on course in carrying 200,000 passengers in 2021".

The new ship names will be unveiled later in December 2019 under CMV's explorer theme providing a more traditional scenic cruise experience.

Chris Coates, Group Commercial Director added, "As the CMV brand continues to evolve, the growing popularity of our traditional product, classic ships and destination focused cruise programs has encouraged us to accelerate plans to add capacity to the two top European cruise markets in the UK and Germany, which represent 85% of our business.

These two fine cruise ships perfectly complement our existing fleet providing trade partners and consumers alike with much needed extra capacity. For 2020, we expect close to 70% of capacity to be sold by the year end, in line with expectations. This provides an ideal platform for the early introduction of new tonnage and opportunities for summer 2021 with the focus very much on higher yield business".

The 2021 summer programs will go on sale via the travel trade and CMV's international sales offices and websites during Q1-2020 with special 2021 launch edition brochures being released offering some enticing early booking incentives and great new opportunities.

Costa Smeralda passes LNG propulsion tests

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 25 November 2019 25 November 2019

Costa Smeralda has successfully passed the technical sea trials carried out with liquefied natural gas (LNG), the cleanest fossil fuel in the world, which represents a real innovation in the cruise industry.

The Costa Smeralda is in fact the second cruise ship in the world, after AIDAnova, which is also part of the Costa Group fleet, to use this fuel, both in port and at sea, which guarantees a low environmental impact. LNG enables the virtual total elimination of sulfur dioxide emissions and particulate matter, and a significant reduction of nitrogen oxide and CO2. During the sea trials, which began on Saturday 16 November, the ship carried out a series of tests to verify the correct operation of systems, equipment and engines with LNG propulsion.

“The fueling of cruise ships with LNG is an innovation in which we were the first to believe five years ago, when we ordered the Costa Smeralda, setting an example for the sector which has since been followed by other companies. It is a safe and reliable technology, which is currently the most effective and feasible solution to ensure a significant reduction in the environmental impact of cruise ships in port and at sea," declared Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises.

Once the sea trials were finished, the ship returned to the Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland, to complete the interior layout. The first Costa Smeralda cruise will depart from Savona on 21 December 2019. The itinerary, which will be repeated until May 16, 2020, will include Savona (Saturday), Marseilles (Sunday), Barcelona (Monday), Palma de Mallorca (Tuesday), Civitavecchia (Thursday) and La Spezia (Friday).

The great innovation of liquefied natural gas fuel is added to other technological innovations, designed to further reduce the environmental impact of the ship, intended to make the Costa Smeralda a real travelling "smart city". The ship will in fact be able to produce the daily water requirement by directly converting sea water and will minimize energy consumption thanks to the use of LED lights, the recovery of heat produced by the engines, the particular shape of the hull designed to significantly reduce friction with the water and elevators of new generation, designed to recover the operating energy through the re-introduction into the electrical system.

Costa Smeralda will represent the synthesis of the coherent commitment to the reduction of disposable plastic, a central theme for the company for about twenty years. Eliminated for the most part in the context of catering and hotels and replaced with alternative materials, plastic will be further reduced, anticipating the objectives of the European Directive.

100% separate collection and recycling of materials such as plastic, paper, glass and aluminum will be part of an integrated approach aimed at the implementation of circular economy projects. Also on the new flagship great attention will be devoted to the theme of food, with the 4GOOFOOD program dedicated to the reduction of food waste and the recovery of surpluses for social purposes, with the innovation of the Restaurant LAB - Laboratory of Taste, to involve guests in an entertaining way in the field of food sustainability.