Lessons learned from the cruise ship industry

Next week at The Superyacht Forum (taking place in Amsterdam) those in attendance will have the opportunity to explore ways that the superyacht customer journey could be drastically improved. During the assortment of panel discussions, keynote sessions and workshops, attendees will engage with expert opinions that highlight methods that the superyacht industry can propel itself forward.

One way to highlight areas of the superyacht market that could be improved is to take a different perspective, and look at how neighbouring industries have successfully overcome similar issues faced in the superyacht industry. The burgeoning demand for high-end cruising has propelled this luxury market into a fascinating state of efficiency and cost optimisation. Further, with the capacity of shipyards to build ultra-high-end cruise ships, significantly faster and significantly cheaper.

The second day of The Superyacht Forum (TSF) – dedicated to optimising ownership –  will see, Terry Allen technical director of McFarlane Ship Design, Dr Keiran Dodworth of Brookes Bell and renowned designer Martin Francis take to the stage to explore the lessons we can learn from the cruise ship industry, from safety to engineering and design. This industry is one that has established worldly efficiency – through tried and tested techniques – which will be discussed during the session at TSF.

While maintaining the element of luxury, the cruise ship industry is one that sees a huge volume of vessels built that are significantly cheaper than superyachts, in a much shorter period of time. To put this in some perspective, Silversea Cruises’ luxury ship Silver Moon, currently in build at Fincantieri, has a volume of 40,700gt, will cost €310 million and will be delivered in 2020. This equates to a build cost of €7,617 per gross ton and an estimated build time of three years, which is certainly lower than what is typically seen in the superyacht market.

While of course, the purposes and capacities of cruise ships are extremely different to that of a superyacht, this discussion is set to reveal some home truths about how the superyacht industry could optimise the build process and in turn, the customer journey in its entirety.

To find out more about the programme, click here.

Profile links

McFarlane ShipDesign

FRANCIS DESIGN (MARTIN FRANCIS)

Brookes Bell

Click here to become part of The Superyacht Group community, and join us in our mission to make this industry accessible to all, and prosperous for the long-term. We are offering access to the superyacht industry’s most comprehensive and longstanding archive of business-critical information, as well as a comprehensive, real-time superyacht fleet database, for just £10 per month, because we are One Industry with One Mission. Sign up here.