Shipbuilders 'Get on Your Marks' as Cruise Line Ponders New Order
Royal Caribbean chairman hints that new ship order is possible.
During the Royal Caribbean second quarter 2012 financial results conference call, Royal Caribbean chairman hinted at the possibility that Royal Caribbean could order a new ship for either Royal Caribbean or its sister company, Celebrity Cruises.
Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain spoke about the possibility, "We clearly are looking at that sort of thing. "I think what we're looking at is, we see that even in this market, we could get some very attractive returns from some of our vessels that have performed well."
"From 2012 through 2016, our berth capacity growth is less than 3%, and in fact, we don't have any ship deliveries in 2013 at all," he said. "But as we said before, we also can't stagnate. Given the long lead time for a new vessel, we're approaching the point where a new order could not be delivered until the middle to late 2016, by which time, we will be enjoying much better profitability and much improved credit metrics."