SSMR Vol. 06: The Global Cruise Industry: back to full Business!

During 2020-2025 the world passenger and passenger/ro-ro cargo fleet grew moderately by 3.9 % per year on average when measured in gt, and by 1.3 % if measured in number of ships. This development also demonstrates the continued growth in the vessel size over the years. Launched in summer 2024 as the last ship in the Oasis class, the Utopia of the Seas is currently the largest cruise vessel with a capacity of 5,714 passengers in double occupancy in its approximately 2,800 cabins.

In order to put the size of the different types of passenger ships in perspective, it is interesting to note that the total tonnage of the 422 cruise ships included in the ISL statistics is about 29.9 million gt, reaching an average of 70,750 gt per vessel, which is more than 10 times higher than the average of the ro-ro/passenger and cargo/passenger ships at just over 6,200 gt. The passenger-only ferries reach an average of just under 900 gt. 

The cruise sector continues its rebound after the Covid-19 pandemic. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) reported 34.6 million passengers for 2024, more than six times the 2021 figure. These good results come at times when the cruise industry continues to face problems such as Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and the sluggish recovery of the global economy. For these reasons, expectations for the coming years are only cautiously positive. The CLIA expects capacity to grow to just under 42 million by 2028.

After only six new orders in the first half of this year, the order volume of passenger ships comprises 185 units with a total tonnage of 8.5 million gt. 95 % of the tonnage are cruise ships, about 4.5 % can be allocated to the ro-ro passenger segment, and 0.5 % are other passenger ships, which, however, represent a good third of the order backlog in terms of the number of ships.

Chinese shipyards, which target the cruise sector as a new market, were unable to maintain their market share compared to the previous year and now only have 3 ships totalling 164,000 gt in their order books, of which 142,000 gt are accounted for by one ship in the Waigaoqiao shipyard’s order book alone.

ISL SSMR 2025-6 highlights various developments around passenger shipping with a focus on cruise shipping and port development in this segment. The issue is available for download via our webshop.

ISL SSMR 2025-6 deals with current developments in global passenger shipping, focusing on cruise shipping and port development. The issue is currently being sent to subscribers and can be ordered via our web shop.