The World Cruise Shipping Industry to 2020

Published Jun 22, 2005 12:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

Ocean Shipping Consultants (OSC), a United Kingdom based research company, issued its latest report "The World Cruise Shipping Industry to 2020-A Detailed Appraisal of Prospects."

OSC says, despite the repercussions of September 11th slowdown, that the world cruise ship fleet has continued to grow at a rapid pace in recent years. The number of berths for vessels over 50 passengers increased from 160,000 in 1995 to over 310,000 in 2005.

The North American cruise market is expected to have approximately 9.25 million passengers in 2005 and is projected to grow to 12 million passengers by 2010.

Carnival Group, which now includes, among other subsidiaries, P&O Cruises, now accounts for 133,500 berths, while its nearest competitor, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL), has 62,000 berths, and Malaysian-owned Star Cruises has 26,000.

OSC says the top 13 cruise companies account for over 75 percent of the berths at 236,000 of the aggregate 313,000 berths.

The Southeast Asia markets are projected to grow from an estimated 250,000 passengers in 2005 to nearly 1 million passengers in 2015.

The cruise industry is expected to add 11 additional large cruise ships by 2010 to meet demand. The latest announcement in new tonnage comes from French engineering giant Alstom, which owns Chantiers de L'Atlantique yard. It says that a letter of intent from Italian owned MSC Cruising to build two of the largest cruise ships ordered by an European cruise company.

The two ships will have 1,500 cabins and be capable of carrying 4,000 passengers and a crew of 1,500. The ships will be delivered in 2008 and 2009.