Cruise Market Review
With the buoyancy in newbuild business witnessed so far this year, the cruise ship orderbook stands at an all-time high of some 48 vessels. Erring on the conservative side, analyst Peter Wild of the U.K.-based consultancy G P Wild (International) calculates that the record workload constitutes 3.2 million-gt of ocean-going newbuildings worth around $14.7 billion. Further expenditure amounting to $6 billion-plus is promised in the near-term on the basis of a raft of options and advanced negotiations and tenders. The aggregate fleet investment offers the prospect of a net capacity increase not far short of the 77,500 lower berths encapsulated in the vessels under construction and on order, while offtake through scrapping is likely to be on a limited scale in the immediate term.
Old Cruise Ships: Save ‘em or Scrap ‘em?
It was a Memorial Day Weekend tragedy onboard the famed 50-year old S.S. Norway, when an explosion rocked 2,000 passengers from their bunks, an accident which killed eight and injured 22. While thoughts immediately turned to terrorism, reports indicate that the explosion eminated from one of Norway's four boilers. The explosion and its aftermath is sure to put the spotlight on older ships and their maintenance habits, though it is far too early to predict any tangible changes. Basking in the limelight of its highly-publicized purchase of the S.S. United States (as seen in MR’s June 2003 Yearbook edition), Norwegian Cruise Lines' (NCL's) moment was short-lived when the Norway incident occurred on May 25…
