Bookings News

Carnival Corp raised its annual profit forecast on Wednesday, anticipating a record year of bookings as the company benefits from a rise in people seeking cruise vacations for the first time.Cruise operators are recording all-time high booking rates as more travelers switch to cheaper sea-borne experiences over expensive land-based alternatives such as booking hotels or flights, providing them more room to raise prices.U.S.-listed shares of the company were flat in volatile trading.

Because there are so many different kinds of passenger vessels, the critical topic of passenger safety can sometimes appear as a set of niche topics, each one just distantly connected to another. After all, passengers aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean face safety issues that are much different than a commuter going from Jersey City to Manhattan or a tourist crossing from the Mukilteo, Wash. ferry terminal to Whidbey Island or a family on a fishing vessel in Miami.Importantly, though, for passenger vessel operators, a commitment to safety is not siloed.

German shipbuilder Meyer Werft reports it has secured an order from U.S.-based Carnival Corporation for the construction of a new cruise ship for Carnival Cruise Line. The newbuild order is the first placed by Carnival Corporation in five years.Slated for delivery in 2027, the Excel-class ship will be a sister vessel to the 183,200 GT Carnival Jubilee, which was handed over at the end of 2023."Our Excel-class ships have been a tremendous addition to the Carnival fleet and proven very popular with our guests," said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

Royal Caribbean Group projected 2024 profit above Wall Street expectations after robust demand for cruise vacations and steeper ticket prices helped it beat fourth-quarter earnings estimates on Thursday.With travelers opting for cruises instead of more expensive land-based vacation options, operators are experiencing record levels of bookings compared to pre-pandemic levels, giving them enough room to mark up ticket prices."2023 was an exceptional year, propelled by unmatched demand for our brands from new and loyal guests…

Carnival said on Tuesday that its annual earnings would take a hit as the cruise operator reroutes its ships that were due to pass through the Red Sea, a key transit route linking Asia and Europe.A growing list of companies have rerouted vessels as the Houthis, a Yemeni militant group, steps up attacks on Israeli ships or ships heading towards Israel, in solidarity with the Palestinians.The rerouting by Carnival is expected to have an impact of 7 cents to 8 cents on its adjusted earnings per share for full-year 2024, with the majority of the impact coming in the second quarter.

One of the world's largest container shipping groups CMA CGM on Friday said it would reroute a weekly service between Europe and Australia to avoid attacks in the Red Sea, and that the company expected months of disruption.Attacks by Yemen's Houthi militia on commercial vessels, in response to Israel's war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza, have slowed trade between Asia and Europe, and U.S. strikes against the Houthis have not resolved the crisis.French-based CMA CGM said its weekly NEMO service connecting Europe…

The economic incentive to import oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia has closed as the cost of booking supertankers on the route has surged amid a jump in bookings for the vessels, traders said this week.With the arbitrage for U.S. shipments closed, Asian refiners may make up some of the difference with similar Middle Eastern crude oil after top regional producer Saudi Arabia cut their sales prices for February, which is expected to carry over to other regional crudes. The spur…

Danish shipping company Maersk said on Monday that its services in Israel were operational and stable, and that it was watching developments in the country closely given the ongoing war with Palestinian militant group Hamas."Bookings for ocean, rail, road and air services to and from Israel... continue to be accepted and facilitated," Maersk said in a statement.(Reuters - Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)

Royal Caribbean Group is removing Israel from its 2024 itineraries due to the Israel-Hamas war, according to an email sent to travel agents on Thursday seen by Reuters, making it the second major U.S. cruise operator to alter its plans over the conflict.The Miami, Florida-based cruise operator is modifying itineraries as late as October 2024 for its Royal Caribbean International unit that stops in Israel, the email said.Travel has declined sharply across Israel and the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank.

Royal Caribbean Group on Thursday lifted its full-year profit forecast for a third time and said bookings for the next year were "significantly outpacing" pre-pandemic levels by a wide margin, sending its shares up about 3%.Cruise operators are reaping the rewards as travelers gravitate to cruise vacations that are cheaper compared to taking a land-based holiday.This has given the companies the ability to hike itinerary prices, especially in North America and Europe, as occupancy…

Activity at Israel's ports is slowing after Saturday's attacks by Islamist group Hamas on towns close to Gaza, with the cost of insurance premiums for Israeli shipments soaring amid tightening supplies of food stocks, according to sources and data.Israel's southern coastal city of Ashkelon, which has a small port well in range of Hamas rockets, is not allowing ships to enter, shipping sources said.While the main Israeli ports of Ashdod further up the coast and Haifa in the north…

Hapag-Lloyd has entered into a partnership with logistics provider DB Schenker to decarbonise supply chains through the use of biofuels.The two companies have signed an agreement for emission-reduced container transports with a waste- and residue-based biofuel. By end of 2023, DB Schenker plans to claim approximately 3,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions avoidance. This is based on at least 1,000 tonnes of pure biofuel.Hapag-Lloyd launched the Ship Green product to offer its customers emission-reduced ocean transports.

The costs of chartering supertankers to move crude oil from the Middle East to Asia have jumped to the highest since April as more cargoes are being booked in June, according to industry sources and data on Refinitiv Eikon.The rate for a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) from the Middle East to China, Japan and Singapore is assessed at just above worldscale 80 on Thursday, according to shipbroking firm Meiwa International, the highest levels since April. Worldscale (W) is an industry…

Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices slipped to their lowest level in two years on weak demand and high inventories, while European LNG prices also fell below the $10 mark amid healthy stock build and limited need for additional supply.The average LNG price for July delivery into northeast Asia was down 6.6% from the previous week at $9.8 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), the lowest since May 2021, industry sources estimated."Prices continue to linger sub $10 as general demand remains lacking…

London’s marine insurance market added Sudan to its of areas deemed high risk this week amid further fighting in the conflict-ridden African country, according to an advisory note.The addition of Sudan to the high risk list will mean that any ships sailing into the country will need to pay an additional war risk premium and also seek approval from their insurer.Advisory notes from the Joint War Committee, which comprises syndicate members from the Lloyd’s Market Association and representatives from the London insurance company market…

Container shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Tuesday it had stopped taking new bookings of goods for Sudan due to the ongoing clashes in the country.Maersk is monitoring the situation and looking for solutions to stabilise its supply chain services there, the Danish shipping company added."These current circumstances mean that we have stopped taking new bookings for now until the situation improves," Maersk said in a statement commenting on the situation in Sudan.(Reuters - Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)

A fire that engulfed hundreds of shipping containers at Turkey's Iskenderun Port after massive earthquakes in the region has been extinguished, the defense ministry said on Tuesday, but it was not clear when operations would resume at the port.Turkey's maritime authority said on Monday that the port, located on the Mediterranean coast in the southern province of Hatay, was damaged due to the earthquake that struck Turkey and neighboring Syria.Drone footage showed fierce flames blackening hundreds of containers on the dock…

Hundreds of shipping containers were ablaze at Turkey's Iskenderun Port on Tuesday, shutting down operations and forcing freight liners to divert vessels to other ports.Turkey's maritime authority said on Monday that the port, located on the Mediterranean coast in the southern province of Hatay, was damaged due to the earthquake that struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria.Drone footage showed fierce flames blackening hundreds of containers on the dock, with water jets from a fire truck dwarfed by the scale of the blaze that broke out on Monday.

French-based shipping group CMA CGM has completed its withdrawal from the Russian market by divesting stakes in terminals through an asset swap, the company said.“With this finalized transaction and the decision to suspend all new bookings to and from Russia since March 1st, 2022, the CMA CGM Group will no longer be involved in any entities operating in Russia,” it said in an emailed statement.The deal was concluded on Dec. 28, it said.CMA CGM inherited 25% stakes in four terminals in Russia and Finland through the acquisition of Finnish firm Containerships in 2018…

China is making fast inroads in the market for newbuild liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers as local and foreign shipowners turn to its shipbuilders for the specialty vessels because long dominant yards in South Korea are fully booked. Three Chinese shipyards - only one of them having experience building large LNG tankers - won nearly 30% of this year's record orders for 163 new gas carriers, claiming ground in a sector where South Korea usually captures most of the business.

Dutch offshore survey company Fugro has expanded its geotechnical vessel fleet with the Fugro Quest vessel. According to Fugro, the vessel is equipped with advanced deep-water technology."Fugro uses this type of vessel to determine the exact composition of the soil; the resulting data are essential to establish the optimal location and design of offshore developments, such as wind farms," Fugro explained.The Dutch company also says that the vessel provides increased personnel and operational safety…

Infinity Nine, the second of the Kando series of contemporary explorer yachts from AvA Yachts was delivered to its owner NBA basketball star Tony Parker in early November.Atilla Küçükdiker, chairman and founder of AvA Yachts, said, “It is a proud and happy day that we as AvA Yachts team have delivered Infinity Nine! We describe our Kando series yachts as contemporary explorers and Infinity Nine really is a superb demonstration of both contemporary style, inside and out, and superb exploration potential with class-beating efficiency…

Sweden-based Skanska, one of the country's largest construction firms, has signed a contract with the Virginia Port Authority to rebuild 72 acres of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal in Portsmouth, Virginia, USA. The project will redevelop approximately 72 acres of the 287-acre Portsmouth Marine Terminal for use as an offshore wind staging port which will improve 1,500 feet of an existing 3,540-foot wharf.Skanska will include the contract worth $223 million, about SEK 2.3 billion…