Orderbook is a source for optimism

After many years of growth both in the number of calls and visiting passengers a number of our member ports report a slight dip in the number of cruise calls for 2014, with a similar outlook for 2015.

Due to the increasing number of larger vessels now positioned in our region the number of passengers has increased for most of the ports or remained static.

We have been aware of this situation for a while. The high cost of marine fuel means slower steaming and less ports being visited during a cruise. The Emission Control Area (ECA) regulations requires the lines to burn a cleaner and more expensive fuel in large parts of Europe from January 1 2015 which also has a major impact on our region.

The orderbook makes very interesting reading. The total number of new cruiseships to be delivered in the next five years is approximately 30. The majority are large ships – 300 metres and 100,000gt or more. Some of the newbuilds are considerably larger than this. In the last few days we have heard the announcement that Richard Branson and his Virgin Group are going into the cruise business with two new vessels in the not too distant future.

Our members are keen to offer the cruise lines the right level of infrastructure to attract the ships. The Cruise Europe monthly newsletter regularly brings stories about port development from all corners of Europe showing the industry that the ports in our region are investing in infrastructure in order to remain competitive into the future.

CE can offer the cruiselines a super blend of large and modern turnaround ports combined with very attractive ports of call, very often situated close to each other. In addition Northern & Atlantic Europe is a very safe region to cruise without major geopolitical issues. It is an all-year cruise destination which includes world famous regions and cities.

It is very important that we in Cruise Europe embrace this very exciting industry and have confidence that our region will remain a very important destination and source market for the industry.