By one measure, not less than, Viking now guidelines the cruise world.
The fast-growing cruise model formally welcomed 9 new ships to its fleet on Tuesday throughout an upbeat naming ceremony in Basel, Switzerland, bringing its whole to 103.
The addition of the brand new vessels, all designed for river cruising, places Viking firmly forward of cruise large Carnival Company for the title of the cruise firm with essentially the most ships.
After reducing its ship count in recent times, Carnival Company, the mum or dad firm of eight main cruise manufacturers together with Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Holland America, presently has simply 94 vessels in its fleet. As lately as 2020, it had 104.
“It is a huge day for us,” Viking founder, chairman and CEO Torstein Hagen informed dozens of Viking executives, port officers, enterprise companions and media assembled for the naming occasion atop one of many 9 new vessels, Viking Honir.
“We have been including ships like counting sheep,” he quipped.
The 190-passenger Viking Honir, which can sail on the Rhine River from Basel to Amsterdam, was the one one of many 9 new ships bodily current in Basel for the naming ceremony.
5 of the eight different vessels have been situated on different rivers the place they are going to be crusing, together with the Nile in Egypt, the Douro in Portugal, the Mekong in Vietnam and the Seine in France. Three extra of the ships have been on the Neptun Werft shipyard in Rostock, Germany, the place they have been present process the final phases of development.
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Nonetheless, the captains and godmothers (and in a pair circumstances, godfathers) for all 9 vessels have been current on the highest of Viking Honir for the ceremony, which included video feeds from every of the vessels as, one after the other, they have been formally named with a smash of Norwegian aquavit towards their hulls.
The usage of bottles of aquavit as a substitute of bottles of Champagne to call the vessels was a nod to Viking’s Norwegian heritage. Viking founder Hagen is Norwegian.
Tuesday’s occasion, which included the revealing of Viking’s one hundredth ship (Viking Honir), was simply the newest milestone in what has been a rare interval of progress for the 28-year-old firm.
With the addition of the 9 new river ships, Viking now operates 88 river ships all over the world in addition to 12 conventional ocean ships and two expedition cruise vessels. It additionally markets a chartered river vessel on the Mississippi River.
As lately as 2012, the corporate fielded simply 29 ships — fewer than a 3rd of the quantity it operates at present.
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The newly public firm, which now has 12,000 staff, has been one of many quickest rising cruise operators in historical past and reveals no indicators of slowing its progress.
As Hagen famous at Tuesday’s occasion, the corporate has 31 extra river ships on order for supply by 2030 — an astounding quantity. It additionally has 14 ocean ships on order for supply by 2033.
The additions will put the corporate’s charge of progress by way of passenger capability at greater than 50% between now and 2030. Carnival Company’s projected progress over that very same interval, in contrast, is just below 10%.
The following largest cruise firm, Royal Caribbean Group, has a projected progress charge by way of passenger capability of round 20% between now and 2030.
Royal Caribbean Group presently has 68 vessels in its fleet, cut up amongst a number of manufacturers together with Royal Caribbean, Celeb Cruises and Silversea Cruises.
Whereas Viking now has extra ships than both Carnival Company or Royal Caribbean Group, it nonetheless carries considerably fewer passengers than these two firms, as its common ship measurement is significantly smaller.
That stated, by some measures Viking is essentially the most worthwhile of the three firms, with a return on invested capital of round 40%.
The 9 new river ships that Viking welcomed on Tuesday embody 4 — Viking Annar, Viking Dagur, Viking Eldir and Viking Honir — that may sail the model’s hottest itineraries alongside Europe’s Rhine, Essential and Danube rivers.
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Three extra of the vessels — Viking Nerthus, Viking Gyda and Viking Tonle — will sail the Seine, Douro and Mekong rivers, respectively.
The 2 different new ships named on Tuesday — Viking Thoth and Viking Amun — will sail the Nile.
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