Top Headlines

TUI AG to restructure Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten unit after its deep interim losses

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

The cruise operations of TUI AG, the German travel group that owns Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten in full and which has a 50% stake in TUI Cruises, have reported a deep operating loss, mainly due to weak performance of Hapag-Lloyd, which will face restructuring while TUI Cruises performed well, the parent company said in a statement.

In three months to 31 March, TUI’s cruisr operations generated a revenue of €69.1 million an increase from €62.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Operating result (EBITA) showed a loss of €48.8 million, a marked deterioration from a profit of €2.5 million in the same period last year.

In the six months to the end of March, i.e. the first half of the company’s financial year, revenues rose to €120.6 million from €102.3 million, but EBITA deteriorated to negative by €60.0 million from a figure negative by €5.7 million a yrar earlier.

“In the period under review, Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten had to carry an adjustment of €49.0m. As current trading fell short of the planned levels, above all for Europa 2, the resulting occupancy risks caused charter shortfalls, which led to the formation of a provision for pending losses from onerous contracts,’ TUI sad in a statement.

In the first half of 2012-13, occupancy of the fleet operated by Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten declined by 7.2 percentage points versus the prior year to 69.6%. In the period under review, 176,194 passenger days were generated, up 13.2% year-on-year.

“The development of these indicators was impacted by the operation of Columbus 2 in the period under review, while the substantially smaller Columbus had still been operated one year earlier. Due to the renewal of the fleet, passenger days rose in the period under review, while occupancy declined due to the capacity increase associated with Columbus 2. The average rate per passenger per day benefited from the fleet renewal, growing by around 7.2% to €417,” TUI said

By contrast, TUI Cruises that operated two ships in the first half of the 2012-13 financial year performed well, as in the prior year. “At 698,636 passenger days, capacity was flat on the prior year. At 100.1%, occupancy continued on the successful development of the prior year. Both ships contributed to this high load factor with the respective winter trade lanes Caribbean and Arabian Gulf. The average rate per passenger per day was €135, up 3.8% year-on-year,” TUI said.

In the Cruises Sector, TUI Cruises will continue the planned growth path and focus even more strongly on generating its cash flow contribution to TUI AG. “A restructuring programme has been launched for Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten. The planned measures include reductions in material and staff costs. Fleet occupancy is to be improved in the short term by means of ad-ditional marketing measures. In addition, a potential adjustment of the fleet structure will be examined,” the company said.

RCCL to revitalise Voyager of the Seas before 2014-15 Australasia deployment

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 14 May 2013 14 May 2013

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), the world’s second largest cruise shipping company, says that the 1999 built Voyager of the Seas will undergo a multi-million dollar refurbishment before starting its 2014-15 cruise season in Australasia.

The shipyard which will carry out the work has not been disclosed. However, RCCL has signed an agreement with the Sembawang shipyard in Singapore, which makes it a strategic partner for RCCL in refurbishment and repair work in the Far East.

RCCL commercial director Adam Armstrong said:“We began with the revitalisations of Radiance of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas in 2011-12, and now we’ve come full circle as Voyager of the Seas will undergo a bow-to-stern refurbishment to offer even more amazing features.”

The company will announce more details later this year, but Armstrong hinted the revitalisation will see Voyager of the Seas fitted with many of the features found on the cruise line’s newest Oasis Class ships, it said in royalcaribbeanblog.com

Radiance and Rhapsody will arrive in Sydney in October 2014 for the season’s start with Voyager to join them in December 2014. The programme features 55 cruises from two to 18 nights in length, calling at 37 ports across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific before the season’s end in April 2015.

High airfares force Carnival Cruise Lines out of Europe 2014

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 10 May 2013 10 May 2013

Carnival Cruise Lines is to send a letter to the UK trade today telling them it will have no ships in Europe next year, Travel Weekly reports in a news alert emailed to Cruise Business in the UK.

Carnival Cruise Lines, which has the 86,000 gross ton Carnival Legend based in Dover and the 102,000 gross ton Carnival Sunshine operating from Barcelona and Venice this year, said it did not think Americans, who make up the vast majority of its passengers, would pay increased airfares to cross the Atlantic.

Itineraries for 2014 have yet to be announced, but UK director Adolfo Perez said agents may be expecting Carnival to have European sailings next year. He stressed the deployment did not mean any scaling back of the UK office and said he was very hopeful that Carnival would bring a ship back in Europe for the 2015 season.

Carnival Legend will reposition to Australia this autumn, where it will become the second ship of the company to cater for the local market.

"The important thing is that our sales team is staying exactly the same size. In fact, we're even recruiting someone right now to replace one of the team that has just left to move overseas. The trade has really supported us and sales have grown significantly from this market and so we will remain as committed as ever with the same great commissions and marketing support."

"We are really hopeful of getting a ship back in Europe in 2015 and you can't just pull out for a year and then expect to just come back again when we need the trade, so it will be business as usual with us really engaged with the trade. Unfortunately, we just don't think the airfares for Americans will be affordable."

The letter to agents said: “Given the current market conditions, increasing air fares, and the fact that most of our guests are from the US, we have decided to not deploy a Carnival ship to Europe in 2014. This was a difficult decision for us, as we realise our guests truly love sailing with Carnival in Europe, largely because we provide great holidays at great value for money. We are hopeful we will return in the future.”

“Carnival continues to be committed to the UK and Irish markets. Whilst we have relied on you all for our European deployment in 2013, you continue to bring guests to Carnival in the Caribbean… and they love it. In fact, the majority of our UK customers choose a cruising holiday that departs from North America. After all, we are the cruise industry leader in year-round Caribbean cruise holidays including departures from all of the major Florida ports and we are the only cruise line to offer year-round departures from Barbados, a true British favourite.”

Following last year’s decision to split the UK-based team overseeing the line from fellow Carnival Corporation operator Holland America Line, it has had a dedicated sales and marketing team under Perez based in London.

Australian source market grew 11% to 694,000 passengers in 2012

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

CLIA Australasia has published its 2012 Australian Cruise Industry Report, whose main findings include:

Australian cruise passenger numbers surged by 11% to reach a record 694,062 in 2012, compared to 623,294 in 2011

Australia is the only source market in the world, other than North America, to have reached a 3% market penetration rate

Australia’s share of the global cruise industry is now 3.4%

The most popular destination for Australian passengers was the South Pacific which accounted for 36.4% of the market in 2012 (252,555 passengers)

Europe is now the biggest fly-cruise market for Australians with passenger numbers rising 26% to 57,719 (8.3% of the market)

The Caribbean achieved the highest growth rate with a 36% rise to 17,316 Australian passengers

River cruising numbers continue to expand with 12% more passengers (39,275) opting for this niche holiday experience

Shorter cruises of 1-4 days experienced the greatest growth in 2012 rising 38%, with 76,719 Australians opting for a short break cruise

The first breakdown of cruise passenger age reveals almost half are under the age of 50, a quarter are aged under 40 and one-third are over 61 years

An insight into the passenger mix onboard roundtrip cruises from Australia shows Australians accounted for 84% of passengers with international travellers representing 16% or close to 100,000 passengers

Norwegian sees $2.2 billion capex on newbuildings to 2015

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 06 May 2013 06 May 2013

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, the listed parent company says that it expects to spend $2.23 billion in capital expendidure related to its newbuildings to the end of 2015.

Future capital commitments consist of contracted commitments, including ship construction contracts and future expected capital expenditures for business enhancements, the company said in a statement. As of March 31, 2013, anticipated capital expenditures for ship construction were $681.1 million for the remainder of 2013, $755.6 million for 2014 and $788.5 million for 2015, of which export credit financing is in place of $572.8 million for 2013, $657.1 million for 2014 and $621.1 million for 2015, based on the euro/U.S. dollar exchange rate as of March 31, 2013

In addition, as of March 31, 2013, anticipated capital expenditures for business enhancements were $57.2 million for the remainder of 2013, and $77 million for each of the years 2014 and 2015, the company said.