Half a million gross tons of newbuildings enter service in three days

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 31 October 2019 31 October 2019

The cruise industry has experienced a record week of deliveries of newbuildings as three large ships added almost half a million gross tons to the global cruise ship fleet in just three days.

MSC Cruises took delivery of the 181,541 gross ton MSC Grandiosa from Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in France today.

Yesterday, Meyer Werft in Germany delivered the 169,245 gross ton Norwegian Encore to Norwegian Cruise Line. It is the third and final Brreakaway Plus class vessel of the operator.

On Tuesday, Carnival Cruise Line received the 133,868 gross ton Carnival Panorama from Fincantieri. The ship was ordered in 2015 for P&O Cruises Australia as their first new building, but was later transferred to Carnival Cruise Line within the carnival corporation & plc group.

The combined gross tonnage of the three ships amounts to 484,654.

Comment – Capex landscape changing as refits, technology gain focus

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 31 October 2019 31 October 2019

The capital expenditure landscape of the cruise industry is changing as refits and technology investments are gathering pace, while billions are needed to cover existing new building orders.

This message has come from the Finnish technology group Wartsila and Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd (RCCL), the world’s second largest cruise shipping group.

Most cruise ship building yards have full orderbooks far into the future, which means long lead times for new orders. The existing orderbook may also satisfy the industry’s capacity needs for the time being.

As RCCL made clear in its third quarter result presentation, upgrades of existing ships will include adding more cabins and other sources of revenue. This trend, which also means at least a gentle decrease in space ratio, has been evident for a few years now.

Such investments,, plus ones in technology and e.g. destinations on land, may have a shorter depreciation profile than newbuildings, which means that the impact is felt on the bottom line sooner.

The industry’s capital expenditure may continue to rise even if not a single newbuiding contract was place for several years as growing needs of ship upgrades and technology will add to those of massive orderbooks for newbuildings.