Carnival orders two new ships
Carnival Corporation has reached an agreement for the construction of two new cruise ships – a 99,000-tonne liner for its Holland America Line brand and a 135,000-tonne vessel for Carnival Cruise Lines.
A memorandum of agreement has been signed with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of the 2,660-passenger ship for Holland America, which is scheduled for delivery in autumn 2015, and the 4,000-passenger vessel for Carnival, which is due to enter service in winter 2016. The total cost of the two vessels will be approximately US$650 million.
“Today’s order continues the company’s strategy of introducing two to three ships per year across the corporation’s 10 brands. We have strategically timed the introduction of these new ships to allow ample time for those brands to further grow their passenger base and absorb the new capacity while minimising revenue yield dilution in the remainder of their existing fleets,” said Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation.
The Holland America ship, which will mark the start of a new class of vessel for the line, will enter service five years after the last Holland America ship, the ms Nieuw Amsterdam, was delivered in 2010. The Carnival vessel, which will also be a new class of ship, will be launched four years after the introduction of Carnival Breeze, which debuted in spring 2012.
Including these two new-builds, Carnival has nine new ships scheduled for delivery over the next four years – two in 2013, two in 2014, three in 2015 and two in 2016. Arison also noted that the addition of new tonnage is expected, to some extent, to replace existing capacity reductions from possible sales of older ships.
Carnival Corporation operates the Carnival, Holland America Line, Princess, Seabourn, AIDA, Costa, Cunard, Ibero and P&O cruise brands, totalling approximately 100 ships.