Cruise industry has more ships on order in 2019 than any time in history

This year a total of 24 new cruise ships will be delivered, introducing 42,488 new berths to the global fleet and representing an investment by cruise lines of US $10-billion.

That’s enough berths to accommodate the entire population of the Principality of Monaco.

In terms of both the number of cruise ships being delivered, and the number of berths, this makes 2019 the biggest year in history for new cruise ship deliveries, according to Cruise Industry News.

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Last year was the previous record-holder, when 34,000 new berths were introduced. Prior to 2018, the record year for berth introductions was 2010, when 28,076 berths were introduced.

In terms of vessel introductions, the previous record prior to 2018 was for 17 new vessels in 2001.

There are now a total of 124 cruise ships in the order book of the world’s 19 major cruise shipyards, an investment of around US $69.3-billion by 39 cruise lines.

When these new ships are introduced between 2019 and 2027, they will add 268,736 berths to the fleet. The average size of these ships has also grown considerably, to an average of 90,841 gross tons with capacity for 2,239 passengers.

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MSC Cruises is the leader of the pack in terms of fleet expansion, the Italian cruise line has 14 new ships on order, four of which will be for its new luxury fleet, and four of which will be the second-largest class of cruise ship in the world after RCL’s Oasis-class.

Viking Ocean Cruises is continuing its rapid expansion of it’s ocean-going cruise fleet with 13 new cruise ships on order until 2027. Norwegian Cruise Line has 7 new cruise ships due for delivery between now and 2027, and Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Costa, Princess and Seabourn all have 5 on order.

Representing a fast-growing sector within the wider cruise industry, some 12 of the 24 cruise ships being delivered this year are for the expedition cruise segment. Most of these cruise ships are also under 1,000 passengers in terms of capacity.

Only 10 of the new cruise ships in 2019 will carry more than 1,000 passengers.

Of the shipyards, Fincantieri will have the biggest year in 2019, with four ships being delivered, in addition to five more from its subsidiary, VARD.

Meyer Werft will deliver a trio of newbuilds, while sister yard Meyer-Turku will deliver two ships.