Cruise
Shipping
Recent Orders Help To Buoy
Maritime Markets
In an attempt to prepare for the
eight million passengers per year
projected by the turn of the century,
cruise ship owners have been plac-
ing orders at a steady pace at the
outset of 1993.
With rosy market potential esti-
mates like the Cruise Line Interna-
tional Association (CLIA) (New
York) recently released, it is no won-
der owners are signing today for
ships tomorrow.
Based on the association's best
estimate, which takes into account
factors such as total population by
age, probability of that population
taking a cruise, and cruise prices,
CLIA estimates that there is more
than $50 billion in revenues to be
made in the cruise market.
Another positive indicator is the
ten-year trend of capacity increases
and the projected continuance of this
through 1997.
According to CLIA, in order to
keep capacity in line with North
American (including Canada and the
U.S.) demand, average capacity rose
at a rate of 8.2 percent from 1981 to
1992.
Based on current information, the
association projects a 4.4 percent
capacity increase through the year
1997.
While all of the facts, figures and
projections are subjective to uncon-
trollable forces such as the world
economy, probably the best bottom-
line indicator of the cruise ship mar-
ket are recent orders and deliveries.
And the beginning of the year to
date has seen the signing of some
landmark deals.
For example, Carnival Cruise
Lines Inc. (CCL) of Miami signed a
contract with Italian builder
Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani
SPA for the construction of the larg-
est passenger cruise ship ever, a
95,000-gt vessel with 1,300 cabins,
for delivery in late 1996.
Additionally, Royal Caribbean
Cruise Line (RCCL) signed contracts
with Chantiers de l'Atlantique of
France, for the construction of up to
three ships with a potential value of
approximately $1 billion.
Each vessel is scheduled to be
65,000-gt with the capacity to carry
1,800 passengers double occupancy.
The first ship is scheduled for
delivery in April 1995, and the sec-
ond and third, should the options be
exercised, will be delivered in 1996
and 1997 respectively.
Chantiers has delivered four
cruise ships to RCCL since 1987.
Finnish builder Kvaerner Masa-
Yards got into the act also, and was
recently tapped by Japan's NYK Line
to build the 50,000-gt Crystal Sym-
phony, scheduled for delivery in the
spring of 1995.
The vessel is planned to be nearly
778 feet long with a capacity for 960
passengers, and will be built at the
company's Turku New Shipyard.
Rounding out the more recent ac-
tion was an order placed by Celeb-
rity Cruise Lines Inc. with
Germany's Meyerwerft for the con-
struction of a 1,740-passenger,
$317.5-million vessel.
In addition, CCLI has options for
two sisterships at approximately the
same price. All vessels will be for
the Celebrity fleet, which serves the
premium segment of the cruise mar-
ket. The first ship is scheduled for
delivery in late 1995.
Two award winning Celebrity
ships, Horizon and Zenith, were built
by Meyerwerft in 1990 and 1992
respectively.
Perhaps a portion of the reason-
ing for the relative steady nature of
cruise ship orders is the consumer's
demand for more diversity. Over
the past 10 years, according to the
CLIA survey, the industry has re-
ANNUAL PASSENGER GROWTH
Year Passengers
(Millions)
Percentage
Growth
198 0 1.4
198 1 1.5
198 2 1.5
198 3 1.8
198 4 1.9
198 5 2.2
198 6 2.6
198 7 2.9
198 8 3.2
198 9 3.3
199 0 3.6
199 1 4.0
13.5%
..1.7%
..1.2%
15.2%
..9.9%
13.4%
13.8%
11.0%
..9.5%
..2.4%
13.5%
..9.5%
Average Growth Rate from 1980 to 1991 = 9.8%
Source: Cruise Line Intl. Association (New York)
30 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
Digital Wave Publishing