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Royal Caribbean International sells two ships for further trading

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 16 December 2020 16 December 2020

Royal Caribbean International, the contemporary market unit in Royal Caribbean Group, said it has sold two ships for an undisclosed buyer.

The 1990 built Empress of 48,653 gross tons and Majesty of the Seas that was built two years later and which measures at 73,941 gross tons, have been sold to a buyer based in Asia-Pacific that will release details for future sailings at a later time, the company said.

Empress was the first ship designed for three and four night cruises, with initial sailings visiting The Bahamas from Miami. Empress also made history as the first cruise ship to sail out of Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey when Royal Caribbean opened the terminal in 2004. In 2017, the ship took center stage again when she set sail on the global cruise line’s inaugural cruise to Cuba.

Majesty of the Seas was the third and final ship of the Sovereign class was more than twice the size of the average cruise ship of the time when it debuted. The ship was first employed on seven night Western Caribbean cruises from Miami.

The two older units of the class that were built as Sovereign of the Seas (1987) and Monarch of the Seas (1991) were sold for scrap earlier this year. Both Majesty of the Seas and Empress were built at Chanters de l'Atlantique in France.

Fred. Olsen Cruises postpones service restart

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 16 December 2020 16 December 2020

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, the UK based destination focused cruise operator, said it has decided to postpone the restart of operations of three of its four ships

“The new timetable shows that new ship Borealis will now be the first of the fleet to sail, and will embark on her maiden cruise with Fred. Olsen – the six-night ‘Scottish Lochs and Isles’ cruise - on 23rd April 2021 as originally planned,” the company said in a statement..

“Bolette will follow on 29th May and Balmoral on 9th June. Due to having an extensive fly-cruise programme, Braemar will remain in lay-up until 2022,” it added.

Braemar had been intended to operate a series of Caribbean fly cruises with Havana as the turnaround port in the 2021/22 season. On 28 August, the company said that all its four ships would restarted service by the end of April 2021.

“Initially, we believe it may be more complex for us to operate the planned fly cruise programme and we will therefore instead focus on our extensive ex-UK itineraries during 2021,\ Managing Director Peter Deer said in the statement.

TUI’s cruise operations suffer deep loss in Covid-19 aftermath

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 10 December 2020 10 December 2020

The cruise operations of TUI AG, the German travel company that is listed in London, have made a deep loss in the financial year to 30 September in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company said in a statement.

TUI AG owns 50% of TUI Cruises, which operates a brand of the same name in the German market plus the luxury and expedition market brand Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten. The company is 100% owner of Marella Cruises that caters for the UK market.

Revenues fell to €472.6 million from €965.8 million and underlying EBIT became negative by €322.8 million compared to being positive by €366.0 million in the 2019 financial year.

TUI Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises resumed partial operations from Germany at the end of July, operating a reduced fleet with European itineraries. This was made possible by Germany’s decision to permit cross-border travel in EU states and Schengen Area from mid-June, underlining the advantage of our diversified markets.

“In combination with already comprehensive hygiene measures on board our fleet, extensive COVID-19 preventative protocols have been introduced as part of our mandatory safety measures. COVID-19 testing is now included within our German cruise packages and a negative result is compulsory for customers and crew prior to departure,” the company said.

Average daily rate obtained by TUI Cruises fell to €141 from €174, while the figure for Marella Cruises decreased by £3 to £146 and that of Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten by €40 to 601

There remains considerable uncertainty regarding the likelihood and nature of further lockdowns and travel restrictions over the next few months, the distribution of an effective vaccine and the shape of the economic recovery. “As a result the TUI Executive Board refrains from issuing new guidance for the Financial Year 2021 under the current circumstances,” the company stated

The company expects FY21 to be a year of transition and for the Group to return to profitable growth from FY22 onwards. “The additional financing package agreed strengthens our position and provides us with sufficient liquidity reserves in this volatile market environment, balancing out the presumed travel restrictions until the beginning of the 2021 Summer season,” it said.

“We are actively streamlining the business through targeted cost cutting, whilst prioritising growth spend on digitalisation initiatives. We will be selective in our investment strategy which will be supported by disposals and we will be focused on asset light structures. Our trusted, leading brand with differentiated products is strongly positioned to benefit from the expected market consolidation. Our digitalisation transformation, underpinned by cost control, and balance sheet discipline will drive our return to healthy financial metrics and profitable growth,” TUI said.

Fincantieri moves up on environmental reporting score

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 09 December 2020 09 December 2020

Major independent non-profit organization for environmental reporting previously known as Carbon Closure Project and now called CDP, scored Fincantieri A- for the activities carried out in the past year, moving the company up from its 2019 ‘B’ score.

Fincantieri is the largest builder of cruise ships in the world and recently delivered its 100th new building in this ship category.

It now enters the highest-merit range (in a scale from a minimum of ‘D’ to a maximum of ‘A’), thus confirming its leadership position also within the fight against climate change.

CDP gathers and thoroughly processes data voluntarily submitted by listed companies, assessing both their performances and strategies. The CDP ranking is therefore a globally acknowledged competitive advantage.

It is indeed a useful tool to get ahead of regulatory and policy changes, identify and tackle growing risks, and find new opportunities for action. More than 500 major investors, with overall assets exceeding $100 billion have already requested companies to inform the market about their sustainability stance through CDP, the company said in a statement.

Photo: Fincantieri shipyard at Monfalcone

Carnival Cruise Line to dry dock three ships prior to service restart

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 09 December 2020 09 December 2020

Carnival Cruise Line, the US focused contemporary market unit in Carnival Corporation & plc group, said it has established dry dock plans for three of its ships.

As part of its gradual, phased-in return to operations in 2021, the company will defer the deployment the vessels until after the work is completed.

Carnival advised that it has cancelled cruises on Carnival Magic (up to and including the embarkation on Sept. 24, 2021), Carnival Paradise (up to and including the embarkation on May 31, 2021) and Carnival Valor (up to and including the embarkation on Sept. 11, 2021)