DVB says more refits and conversion in the pipeline rather than newbuildings

German transport and shipping bank DVB believes that the cruise industry is set to focus on upgrading existing vessels rather than embark on expensive newbuilding contracts, and says that thus year’s refit market is likely to exceed US $1bn by a comfortable margin.

DVB also expects a number of existing newbuilding orders for cruise ships to be renegotiated, while established European cruise ship builders will face increasing competition, not from yards in the Far East, but from the Bahamas!

In its latest in-depth analysis on the cruise market, DVB says that given the lower levels of consumer confidence in today’s challenging economic and financial markets, cruise operators’ revenue per passenger is expected to fall both this year and in 2010. ‘All indications are that it will take until the second half of 2010 before there is a visible shift in consumer sentiment and with it the fortunes of the cruise lines.

‘With cruise lines being pressed by lower margins as consumers feel the pinch of the credit crunch, it will not be entirely surprising if we see some of the contracted prices for newbuildings being renegotiated,’ said the DVB report. 

DVB also believes that Freeport’s Grand Bahama Shipyard could become a major force in the cruise ship newbuilding sector; the yard already having made a name for itself in the refit and conversion markets.  Sphere: Related Content