Tui Group News

The docking of the Europa passenger liner in Cape Town on Tuesday was meant to be a ribbon-cutting celebration marking the official start of the cruise ship season in South Africa’s top tourist hub, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.But international travel curbs on southern Africa, where the new Omicron coronavirus here variant was first identified, have blown expectations of a bumper tourist season out of the water.The multi-story luxury liner is the first to dock at…

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises presented the Hanseatic nature for the first time in Hamburg on Saturday (May 04, 2019).The provider of adventure and classic cruising with luxury voyages to Polar Regions, Caribbean, Central America, Europe & more said that Hanseatic nature is the first of three, structurally- identical ships in the cruise line’s new expedition class. The ship left Hamburg on May 5, 2019 for its inaugural cruise, which will take it to the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands, finishing in Bergen. This summer, the ship will visit the Arctic.The Hanseatic nature is a small, manoeuvrable and expedition ship, to be positioned in the 5-star segment. Its construction, design and routes revolve around providing a true expedition experience and getting as close as possible to nature.

The super luxury passenger vessel MV Mein Schif 3 of TUI Cruises with 2,430 passengers and 995 crew on board made her maiden call at the Port of Colombo on 26th November 2018. The vessel was welcomed at the East Container Terminal (ECT) of Sri Lank Ports Authority (SLPA).Chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) – Dr.Parakrama Dissanayake said that the Port of Colombo was honored by the presence of Mein Shiff 3 in Colombo. “The Port of Colombo has become an extremely busy port and this year the port also became the fastest growing port in the world in terms of handling containers. The next area we are focusing is the passenger vessels and we have plans to construct a state of the art passenger terminal at the Port of Colombo…

TUI Cruises, a joint venture between TUI AG and Royal Caribbean Cruises has placed an order with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to build a pair of new-generation cruise ships to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).The new 161,000 gross ton vessels will be built at the Monfalcone shipyard and delivered in 2024 and in 2026. Including the new pair, the cruise line’s Mein Schiff fleet will grow to nine ships by 2026.“These will be the largest ships ever built in Italy,” said Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri.

Europe’s largest travel and tourism group TUI Group said it had approved construction of another cruise ship for its Hapag-Lloyd cruise business and that summer trading was good as it reported second quarter results.The group reported a narrower operating loss of 125 million euros ($148 million) for the quarter, which is traditionally loss-making, and confirmed a target for full-year underlying earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) to rise by at least 10 percent at constant currencies.“Trading for Summer 2018 is very good and fully matches our expectations. Demand for Spain remains strong,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.($1 = 0.8438 euros)(Reporting by Victoria Bryan Editing by Maria Sheahan)

Europe's largest tourism group TUI Group said on Monday it had sold its stake in container shipper Hapag-Lloyd, bringing to a close plans for the sale of non-core businesses in order to focus on its tourism operations. TUI Group has been investing in more of its own hotels and cruise ships since it was formed from the merger of TUI AG and TUI Travel in 2014. "The proceeds will be reinvested in the transformation of TUI as the world's leading integrated tourism business, focused on own hotel and cruise brands, and to further strengthen TUI's balance sheet," TUI said.

German shipping line Hapag Lloyd is close to completing a merger with United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) after UASC's shareholders agreed terms to repay outstanding debts, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters. The deal to create the world's fifth-biggest shipping company, valued at about 7 billion to 8 billion euros ($7.8-$8.9 billion), had been scheduled to complete at the end of last year. It would give Hapag Lloyd access to bigger ships on the major Asia to Europe trade route.

Vard Holdings Limited (“VARD”), one of the major global designers and shipbuilders of specialized vessels, confirmed the contracts for the design and construction of two luxury expedition cruise vessels for TUI Group’s German luxury cruise business Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. The contracts had been announced on 26 August 2016, with effectiveness of the contracts still subject to customary financing conditions. All conditions have now been fulfilled and the contracts have become effective. Both vessels are specially designed for cruises in polar regions in the Arctic and Antarctica, but are also prepared for operations in warm water destinations such as the Amazon river. The luxury expedition cruise vessels will be approximately 16,100 gross tons, about 138 meters long and 22 meters wide.

TUI Group, the world’s number one tourism group, will invest in two new-builds for its Hamburg-based subsidiary Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. The two, new, 5-star expedition vessels are scheduled for launch in April and October 2019, respectively, following 20 months of construction. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed. Sebastian Ebel, member of the Executive Board of TUI Group in charge of Cruises: “The cruise business is one of the key elements of TUI’s growth strategy. Our ambitions are underpinned by our investment in the two new ships for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. Karl J. Pojer, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises: “The former director Albert Ballin invented the modern cruise concept 125 years ago.

The production of a new generation of Mein Schiff ships started today at Meyer Turku shipyard, Finland, with the steel cutting ceremony. The new Mein Schiff 1, NB-1392, will be around 20 meters longer than the previous Mein Schiff ships and will have space for additional 180 cabins. The steel cutting for hull number NB-1392 or the new Mein Schiff 1 was started by Georgios Vagiannis, Project Manager Newbuild, TUI Cruises, in a ceremony at the steel hall of Meyer Turku. The first steel cutting marks the start of production of a new generation of TUI Cruises ships. Mein Schiff 1 will be around 20 meters longer than the existing new builds and will have space for 180 additional cabins.

Thomson Cruises’ newly acquired Splendour of the Seas will be renamed Thomson Discovery when it joins the company’s fleet in summer 2016 and it will homeport in Palma. Before setting sail under the Thomson name, the ship will undergo a re-brand and refurbishment. The 915-cabin ship will replace Island Escape when it joins the fleet, keeping the total number of ships operated at five. The vessel, which will be the largest in the Thomson Cruises fleet, at a passenger capacity of 1,830. It will offer 40% balconies which managing director Helen Carron believes will prove a popular unique selling point. Under her new owners the interior of the ship will stay the same so you won’t have to ‘wave’ a teary goodbye to her fun features like the rock climbing wall…

STX France received an order to build a luxury cruise ship, the EUROPA 2. The new ship is being acquired by a third-party proprietary company outside the TUI group at the French STX shipyard and will enter service in 2013. The vessel, that will complement the EUROPA in the fleet of German cruise operator Hapag Lloyd-Cruises, will be designed and built according to latest international regulations and delivered in 2013. For STX France this new contract represents about 2.5 million working hours. Construction will start in September 2011. "We are proud to be chosen to build the new cruise liner in our Saint-Nazaire shipyard and we are delighted to contribute to the expansion of the luxury cruise activities of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises"…

Peter Ganz and Roland Kirch are to be appointed to the Hapag-Lloyd executive board. Peter Ganz is to be appointed by the Hapag-Lloyd supervisory board at its next meeting to the executive board of Hapag-Lloyd AG as chief financial officer. After studying business administration, Ganz began his career in 1994 in the Finance Department of TUI AG. In 2000, he took over the responsibility of TUI’s Group Treasury. In September 2007, he was appointed as Director Corporate Finance. He was significantly involved in the disposal process of Hapag-Lloyd AG to the Hamburg Consortium. Roland Kirch, Chief Representative (Generalbevollmächtigter) of Hapag-Lloyd AG…