Two innovative ships for Costa Cruises as part of multi billion contract with Meyer Werft

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 28 July 2015 28 July 2015

Costa Cruises today announced an order to build two next-generation cruise ships, with the largest guest capacity in the world. They will feature a revolutionary “green design”: the two ships will be the first in the cruise industry (together with the two new ships previously announced for Aida Cruises, the German brand of Costa Group) to be powered at sea by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), the world’s cleanest burning fossil fuel, representing a major environmental breakthrough.

The two ships will be built by Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland, with delivery in 2019 and 2020. Each of them will exceed 180,000 gross tonnage, offering more than 2,600 passenger cabins for a total of 6,600 passengers onboard.

Costa order is part of a multibillion dollar contract with two Meyer shipyards in Turku (Finland) and Papenburg (Germany), including also two new ships for Aida Cruises. The contract with Meyer is the result of a larger previously announced memo of understanding between Carnival Corporation & plc, the home company of Costa Group, and leading shipbuilders Meyer Werft, Meyer Turku and Fincantieri S.p.A. for nine new ships between 2019 and 2022.

“These ships will expand the leadership position for the Costa Group, the market leader in all the major continental European markets,” said Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group. “The multibillion dollar contract with Meyer mirrors our strategy to constantly innovate our vacation offers and to deliver unmatched cruise experience to our guests.”

“The two Costa ships are real innovation for the market, setting new standards for the whole industry: they will be the first green ships powered with LNG and they will offer an extensive number of guest-friendly features. Furthermore they will be the expression of the new positioning Italy's finest.” – explains Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises  – "The order also confirms that Costa brand will continue to grow, becoming even stronger and keep on generating a positive economic impact in the main countries where it operates, including Italy."

Pioneering a new era in the use of sustainable fuels, Costa new ships will be the first in the cruise industry to use LNG in dual-powered hybrid engines to power the ship both in port and on the open sea. LNG will be stored onboard the ships and used to generate 100 percent power at sea – producing another industry-first innovation for Costa. Using LNG to power the ships in port and at sea will significantly reduce exhaust emissions to help protect the environment and support the company’s aggressive sustainability goals.

“We are honoured that Costa Group has entrusted us with the technical design and construction of their next generation ships for Europe, featuring a revolutionary green cruising design implemented to meet specific Costa Group’s needs.” - commented Jan Meyer CEO of Meyer Turku Oy and added: “We are building the ships with a strong team in Turku and with the support of mostly European suppliers, who are the best in their field. Among those leading suppliers, there are also a number of Italian companies, which we have worked well with in Finland as well as in Germany. We are aiming to continue this successful legacy.”  

The new order represents a remarkable opportunity also for Italy. According to Costa Cruises forecast, about 750 Italian crewmembers are expected to be hired to work on the two ships. Furthermore Italy will be featured in the onboard guest experience: the new ships will be ambassadors of Italy’s finest at seas, allowing thousand of international guests to discover the excellence of the Country in terms of style, hospitality and enogastronomic specialities, entertainment.

The new ship order will allow the Costa Group to continue to build on its leadership position in the continental European cruise market – a market in which five out of ten cruise guests in 2014 sailed onboard a Costa Group ship.

Exit from Norwegian to markedly lift Genting Hong Kong earnings

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 27 July 2015 27 July 2015

Genting Hong Kong, the owner of Star Cruises and Crystal Cruises, says its first half 2015 interims will soar to about $2,100 million from $142 million in the same period last year, lifted by gains from its gradual exit as shareholder of Norwegian Cruise Line Holding (NCLH).

“The board of directors of the Company wishes to inform the shareholders, investors and potential investors of the Company that, based on the preliminary assessment of the latest unaudited financial information, excluding the share of results of NCLH and Travellers, the Group is expected to record a net profit of not less than US$2,100 million for the half year ended 30 June 2015, as compared with a net profit, excluding the share of results of NCLH and Travellers, of approximately US$142.2 million for the half year ended 30 June 2014,’ Genting said in a statement.

“Such expected increase in net profit is mainly attributable to a number of factors, including: (i) a total gain of US$599.6 million arising from disposals of certain stakes in NCLH, as disclosed in the Company’s announcements dated 9 March 2015 and 21 May 2015 (30 June 2014: US$152.6 million); (ii) a one-off accounting gain of US$1,567.4 million recognised upon completion of a secondary offering of NCLH’s ordinary shares following which the Group’s interest in NCLH deceased from approximately 22.0% to approximately 17.7% and the Group ceased to account for its share of results and net assets of NCLH as an “associate” but as an “available-for-sale investment” on 26 May 2015,” Genting stated.

The gain is calculated based on the difference between the market value of NCLH shares owned by the Group as at 26 May 2015 and the carrying value of such NCLH shares in the Group’s consolidated financial statements; (iii) the absence of a fair value gain of US$14.4 million arising from the mark-to-market revaluation of certain financial assets; and (iv) increase in foreign exchange loss of approximately US$19.4 million mainly attributable to depreciation of certain foreign currency-denominated bank balances against US dollar.

In addition, the Group also expects its EBITDA for the half year ended 30 June 2015 to increase compared with that of the corresponding period in 2014 mainly because of the maiden contribution from Crystal Cruises, LLC and an improvement in the Group’s underlying cruise business despite a softer overall gaming performance arising from weakness in the regional gaming industry.