Carnival Corporation released its 2022-Q4 business update, including the news that the world's largest cruise shipowner will soon remove 3 more vessels from its global fleet.
In the report's “fleet optimization” section, the Corporation said it expected to remove 3 additional smaller/less efficient boats from its fleet. Two of those are from Costa Cruises’ fleet as part of the "strategy to right-size the brand in light of the continued closure of cruise operations in China, and Costa’s significant presence there prior to the pause in the company’s guest cruise operations."
“Once completed in spring 2024, the company’s fleet optimization strategy will have reduced Costa’s capacity so that it approximates the 2019 capacity Costa dedicated outside of Asia to its core markets in Continental Europe.”
In 2023, Carnival Corporation expects its total capacity to grow by 3% (over the pre-COVID 2019). This is at the lower end of the previously projected range of 3 to 5%. The growth rate includes the benefit that newly-delivered liners will represent nearly 1/4th of Carnival’s capacity.
Since the start of the pandemic, Carnival Corporation has sold off or scrapped 20+ of its older boats.