Top Headlines

Will Sapphire Princess be based at Shanghai June to August 2014?

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 20 August 2013 20 August 2013

It appears that Princess Cruises might base Sapphire Princess in Shanghai in China for about three months next year.

The company’s itineraries show a 25 night cruise from Los Angeles across the Pacific to Shanghai, with departure 18 May. The next published cruise of the ship will sail from Shanghai on 3 September, with Bangkok as destination. From there, it will sail on to Australia and in the winter 2015 head north to Singapore. The ship will have a season of about three months in the Asian port.

If Princess Cruises will offer a series of cruises from Shanghai next year, it would become the second brand of Carnival Corp & plc to do so. Costa Crociere has two vessels on the Chinese market, Costa Victoria and Costa Atlantica. However, Costa Atlantica will operate a 100 night around the world cruise from China next year and Costa Victoria will spend part of next spring inS ingapore, thus reducing the footprint of the Carnival group on the Chinese market.

Earlier this year, the Carnival group established Carnival Asia in Singapore to grow its business in the region, while Princess Cruises has said it will open a number of offices in China.

Huge increase in STX Offshore & Shipbuilding interim loss

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 15 August 2013 15 August 2013

STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, the troubled South Korean company that builds cruise liners and ferries in Finland and France, has reported a huge increase in net loss in the second quarter of the year.

Net loss widened to KRW2.8 trillion, equal to $2.03 billion, in the first three months of the year from KRW73.7 billion in the same period last year, reports in the shipping media say.

The company has suffered from weak cash flows, which has increased financing costs. At the end of July, its principal creditors agreed to provide a total of $1.9 billion in new funding to the company through a cash injection and debt to equity swap.

STX Offshore & Shipbuilding owns in full STX Finland that has two shipyards plus a 64% stake in STX France through STX Europe, an Oslo based subsidiary company. The group has put its European yards for sale and at Christmas, sold its remaining shares in a Singapore listed builder of offshore services vessels to Fincantieri in Italy.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises in strong second quarter improvement, reports $6.5 million profit

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 09 August 2013 09 August 2013

Regent Seven Seas Cruises (RSSC), the luxury cruise line in the Prestige Cruise Holdings group, has staged a string improvement in results in the second quarter. The company reported net profit of $6.5 million compared to a loss of $3.8 million in the same period last year.

Revenue reached a record $142.7 million for the second quarter of 2013, an increase of 8.6% over the second quarter of 2012 on a 5.4% increase in capacity due to the Seven Seas Navigator scheduled dry-dock in 2012. Adjusted EBITDA was a record $28.5 million for the second quarter of 2013, compared to $19.4 million for the second quarter of 2012. Net Yield for the second quarter of 2013 increased 3.9 percent to a record $521.24 from $501.68 in 2012.

In July, the Company announced that it entered into a definitive contract with Italy's Fincantieri shipyard to build a 738 guest vessel at an approximate cost of $450 million with delivery scheduled in summer 2016. Named Seven Seas Explorer, the Company expects the vessel will be the most luxurious cruise ship built in the modern era of cruising.

On July 31, 2013, we entered into a loan agreement providing for borrowings of up to $440 million with a syndicate of financial institutions to finance 80% of the contract cost of Seven Seas Explorer plus the export credit premium.

Borrowings under this loan agreement bear interest, at our election, at either (i) a fixed rate of 3.43% per year, or LIBOR plus 2.8%. The twelve year fully amortizing loan requires semi-annual principal and interest payments commencing six months following the draw-down date.

Commenting on the second quarter financial results, the Company's Chairman and CEO, Frank Del Rio, stated, “We are pleased to have reached record Revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, Net Yield and Net Income for the second quarter. These results continue to affirm our all-inclusive luxury offering. In looking to the future, we recently announced a contract for Seven Seas Explorer, which will set the standard for luxury cruising. The all-suite, all-balcony ship will feature sophisticated designer suites ranging from 300 square feet to 1,500 square feet with one of the highest space ratios and staff-to-guest ratios ever seen.

The ship will include six open-seating gourmet restaurants, Regent's signature nine-deck atrium, the two-story Explorer Theater, three boutiques and an expansive Canyon Ranch SpaClub. Operationally, the vessel will be a green ship, employing the most advanced environmental systems and state-of-the-art technology. With this addition to the fleet, the Company's capacity will grow nearly 40 percent, making it the world's largest luxury cruise line."

Norwegian’s principal shareholders to cut stake in company by offering 20 million shares

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 08 August 2013 08 August 2013

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd says it has announced the launch of a secondary public offering of 20 million of its ordinary shares by its principal shareholders, Star NCLC Holdings Ltd. and certain funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC and TPG Global, LLC pursuant to a registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The selling shareholders will grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an aggregate of up to 3 million additional ordinary shares. Norwegian will not sell any ordinary shares in the offering and will not receive any of the proceeds from the offering.

UBS Investment Bank and Barclays are acting as bookrunners and the representatives of the underwriters for the offering. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan are also acting as bookrunners for the offering. Credit Agricole CIB, DNB Markets, HSBC, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Nomura are acting as co-managers for the offering, the company said in a statement.

Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten more than doubles TUI AG cruise losses

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 08 August 2013 08 August 2013

Poor performance of its Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten unit has more than doubled the operating losses of cruise operations of TUI AG, the German travel group in nine months to 30 June, offsetting continuing good development of TUI Cruises.

Turnover in TUI AG’s cruise sector rose to €188 million from €162 million year on. “This growth was mainly driven by the expansion of the fleet to include MS Europa 2 (since May 2013), TUI AG said.

However, operating loss of the sector deepened to €18 million euros from €8 million in the corresponding period a yearearlier.

“The decline was exclusively attributable to the weaker performance of Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten. Earnings were impacted by start-up costs for the fleet expansion and damage resulting from a fire during a dry dock period,” TUI AG said in a statement.

Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten recorded a decline in occupancy of 4.6 percentage points to around 71% The average rate per passenger per day climbed by around 8% from €377 to €409. Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten operates in the luxury and exploration segments of the cruise industry.

In the period under review, TUI Cruises continued its positive development. “TUI Cruises achieved an increase in occupancy of 1 percentage point to 100%. The average rate per passenger per day grew by around 3% from €142 to €147, TUI AG said.

TUI Cruises is a premium market cruise operator, in which TUI AG has a 50% stake, while Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd owns the other 50%.