CLIA: Capacity up in developing markets

Posted on 15 September, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

CLIA’s annual report on the economic contribution of the cruise industry highlights growth in less developed cruise territories, including Asia, the Australia/Pacific region and South America.

The report said these three areas recorded 20% capacity growth in 2013 and accounted for more than half the global increase in available bed days. Europe’s capacity growth slowed from 18% in 2011 to 3.5% last year.

CLIA said the number of passengers carried in 2013 by its member lines rose 3.9%, to 17.6 million (river cruises are not included in the tally).

Bed days increased 4.8% because the average cruise was longer and capacity was higher, CLIA said.

Passenger embarkations at U.S. ports fell 1.3%, to nearly 10 million, the first time in at least four years that happened. CLIA attributed the decline primarily to redeployments to markets more distant from the U.S.

Direct spending by cruise lines, passengers and crew in the U.S. crossed the $20 billion threshold, rising 2.4% to $20.1 billion in 2013. More than 80% of that was for wages, taxes, and goods and services. Passengers and crew accounted for $3.63 billion in spending.

CLIA member cruise lines in North America showed a net increase of one ship in 2013, to 178, with a combined capacity of 338,505 berths, the study said.

Australian cruisers increased 20% in 2013

Posted on 19 June, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

The number of Australians who cruised in 2013 rose 20%, outpacing every other sizable cruise market, CLIA Australasia said in a report.

Australia’s growth surpassed Germany (9%), France (9%), North America (3%) and the U.K./Ireland (1%), according to the report’s executive summary.

Last year, 833,348 Australians cruised, up from 694,062 in 2012.

More than 11.7 million passengers from the United States and Canada cruised last year, according to CLIA. But Australia’s growth means that 3.7% of its total population has been on a cruise, exceeding the 3.3% figure for North America.

CLIA Australasia projected it will reach the 1 million passenger threshold by 2016; a previous forecast targeted 2020.

Two Holland America ships will move to P&O Australia

Posted on 21 May, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

Carnival Corp. said it will transfer two of Holland America Line’s ships, the Ryndam and Statendam, to its P&O Australia subsidiary to capitalize on growth prospects in that country.

The ships will depart the HAL fleet in November 2015.

HAL is scheduled to take delivery of a 2,600-passenger newbuild in 2016, and that will more than replace the capacity of the two smaller, older ships.

Statendam and Ryndam, delivered in 1993 and 1994, respectively, each carry 1,260 passengers at double occupancy.

After the move and the delivery of the newbuild in 2016, HAL would have 14 ships in its fleet, and P&O Australia would have five.

The move fits a trend towards replacing a number of smaller ships with fewer, larger ones. Seabourn, a Carnival Corp.-owned luxury line, last year sold three of its 212 passenger ships to Windstar and is taking delivery of a 604-passenger ship in 2016.

Cruise industry capacity has been expanding rapidly in Australia. For Carnival Corp., growth has gone from two P&O ships 10 years ago to six full-time ships, including three from P&O, two from Princess Cruises and one from Carnival Cruise Lines.

The return of the Sun Princess full-time to Australia next year and the two additional P&O ships will increase that number to nine.

Other companies have made similar moves.

The number of Australians taking a cruise has grown 130% in five years, Carnival said. The total of 800,000 last year is projected to grow to 1 million by 2016.

“Our ability to work among our brands to make strategic deployment decisions is a great example of our focus on leveraging our scale and increased collaboration,” commented Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald. “This is an exciting development on many levels.”