Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, has increased the number of ships it intends to offload to 19 from 18, it said.

“Since the pause in guest operations, the company has accelerated the removal of ships in fiscal 2020 which were previously expected to be sold over the ensuing years. The company now expects to dispose of 19 ships, 15 of which have already left the fleet,’ Carnival said in its final quarter and full fiscal year 2020 result statement.

In the third quarter statement, the company said it plans to axe 18 old ships. The company did not state which ship has been added to the disposal list.

The 19 ships represent approximately 13% of pre-pause capacity and only 3.0% of operating income in 2019. “The sale of less efficient ships will result in future operating expense efficiencies of approximately 2.0% per available lower berth day ("ALBD") and a reduction in fuel consumption of approximately 1.0% ALBD,” Carnival said.

The company recently took delivery of two ships and expects only one more ship to be delivered in fiscal 2021, which runs till 30 November, compared to five ships that were originally scheduled for delivery in fiscal 2021.

“Based on the actions taken to date and the scheduled newbuild deliveries through 2022, the company's fleet will be more efficient with a roughly 14% larger average berth size per ship and an average age of 12 years in 2022 versus 13 years, in each case as compared to 2019,” Carnival said.

Photo: The 1998 built Sea Princess is one of the ships recently sold by the Carnival group