NYK Cruises, which operates Asuka II on the Japanese market and owns Crystal Cruises in the US, has reported a fall in revenue and deeper losses for the first three months of the financial year that will end on 31 March 2011.

The company, which is part of Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) group, suffered a net loss of JPY1.3 billion compared to a JPY0.6 billion loss in the same period last year. Operating loss deepened to JPY1.3 billion from JPY0.5 billion, while revenue fell to JPY9.0 billion from JPY9.4 billion in the corresponding period of 2009.

“In the Japanese market, Asuka II's seat-load factor failed to grow, reflecting the impact of the economic slump throughout its around-the-world cruise sales period. In the North American market, Crystal Cruises’ proactive sales promotion strategy successfully boosted revenues year on year, but bunker oil and other expenses increased. As a result, a year-on-year earnings declined in the Cruises segment overall,” NYK said in its first quarter interim statement.