Atop the waves

3-pct economic growth, 11,500 new jobs in the industry, over 6.1 mln passengers transported by cruise companies and record number of vessels under construction:  cruise business of Europe is atop the waves.

Italy is still the leader in cruise sector with such rivals as Great Britain, Spain, France and Germany which saw more than 7-pct increase of demand for cruise transportation in 2012. Last year, almost 2 million German people were in cruises, it is the population of Hamburg, Germany’s second largest city.

At the same time, world’s largest cruise market – North America – demonstrated a downward trend in 2012 which is supposed to continue according to interim results of 2013. 

Investments

Today, European shipyards are busy with constructing 20 new ocean going cruise ships and 51 river going cruise ships. Six ocean ships being built by German yards are to be completed in 2016. Last year, the investments into the newbuildings and modernization of the old vessels at German shipyards hit EUR 1.5 bln accounting for 37% of industry participants’ costs for the construction and modernization of fleet worldwide. As Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio, Chairman of  Silversea Cruises, said at the Cruise & River Cruise Conversation, no other country managed to reach the same result.

It should be noted that shipping companies loosen the purse strings investing in construction of the new generation fleet.

In March 2013, Italian shipyard Fincantieri laid down the keel of Hull 6231 for P&O Cruises, (brand of Carnival Group, leading cruise operator). The vessel with 1,819 rooms for 3,611 passengers will have a mobile hospital including an intensive care unit and a medical laboratory.  The vessel is to be put into operation in March 2015.

Six cruise liners are being built at MEYER WERFT, three of them for Royal Caribbean and three for NORWEGIAN Сruise Line, all of them to be delivered by 2016. Each of the vessels will be at least 324 meters long with the capacity of at least 4,900 passengers. One of the vessels being built for NORWEGIAN Сruise Line – Breakaway Plus project – will be the company’s largest ship.

Vessels of new class – Sunshine project – have been designed for Royal Caribbean MEYER WERFT, The designer says the project will be the first in the market of cruise ships.

In the nearest future, TUI Cruises, joint venture of the German tourist company TUI and American cruise company Royal Caribbean Cruises, will get two vessels Mein Schiff 3 and Mein Schiff 4 from the Finnish shipyard. These two luxury class liners for 2,500 passengers each will be the largest of the existing environmentally friendly vessels. TUI Cruises management expects these vessels to feature power consumption decreased by 30%. They will be equipped with exhaust control systems developed by Wärtsilä.

Cruise companies and shipyards engaged in building cruise ships pay more and more attention to safety issues. For instance, Carnival Cruise Lines invests over $300 mln into improvement of safety systems at its all 24 liners. In particular, fire-fighting system is to be upgraded.

“Cruise ships are equipped with the advanced navigation systems able to scan seabed within the accuracy of a centimeter. This provides captains with instant obstacle vision. So, one’s way to a boarding site by car or by plain will be more dangerous than the voyage itself,” says Stefan Jaeger, President of the European Cruiser Association (EUCRAS).

Restrictions

Owners of cruise ships are preparing for transfer to low sulphur fuel. At the same time, they are concerned about insufficient market supply of this fuel. Ship owners have already tested convectors and scrubbers and some companies have put such equipment into operation. In particular, members of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) invested EUR 8 to 10 million into technological improvements for each vessel, Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio said.

This year, Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten has put into operation MS Europa 2, the world’s first cruise ship fitted with the system of catalytic converters to minimize emissions. This innovation cost additional EUR 20 million for the company, said Henning Brauer, head of the Ship Newbuilding department at Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten.

The new IMO regulations requiring the use of low-sulphur fuels will take effect for European waters in 2020, and for the entire world in 2025. In EU ports and so-called Emission Control Areas or ECAs, including the North and Baltic Seas and the North American coastal waters, these regulations have already come into effect. In the North and Baltic Seas, fuel with sulphur content exceeding 0.1% will not be allowed as of 2015. Several ship-owning companies have begun retrofitting their fleets. AIDA Cruises, for example, wants to equip its new Club Ships with dual fuel systems enabling them to switch between diesel fuel and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Until an international LNG refuelling infrastructure has been established, ADIA will power these vessels using an LNG Hybrid Barge while in port. This barge is expected to be ready for deployment before the end of this year.

From the materials of Seatrade Europe exhibition and Cruise & River Cruise Conversation