Carnival’s decision to add three more ships to an already record orderbook still keeps cruise industry capacity growth below historical averages, a UBS analyst said Tuesday.
Robin Farley, who follows leisure stocks for the investment bank, said that while the trio of newbuildings booked at Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku does appear to bolster capacity in the North American market in 2020, that doesn’t factor in expected vessel withdrawals.
“In North America, the 10-year average growth rate for gross capacity is about 5.5% and we expect gross capacity to increase 4.8% on average from 2018 to 2022, so these increases are still below average,” she said in a note to clients.
As TradeWinds reported earlier today, Carnival booked two LNG-powered, 180,000-gt ships at Finland’s Meyer Turku to be delivered between 2020 and 2022.
And Meyer Werft will build a third vessel in Germany.
The company also delayed deliveries for its AIDA and Costa Cruises brands to make room for the latest newbuildings.
