Passenger & Cruise

Overview

There are over 300 large cruise vessels in operation with 56 on order for delivery between 2024-28, roughly a total of 30 million GT, whereas there are 15,400 ferries worldwide that carried 4.27 billion passengers and 373 million vehicles in 2019 with a similar total gross tonnage. These ferries predominantly operate in Asia (12,197) though this number excludes approximately 10,000 small ferries engaged in local river traffic. This is followed by Europe (1.665), Americas (1,338), Oceania (175) and Africa (91). These ferries in operation have a wide spread of ages and types of vessel however the average age is over 20 years.

Out of the 1,665 newbuild commercial vessels delivered in 2023, passenger vessels accounted for 3.1% of the ship gross tonnage delivered indicating that there is a fairly low replacement rate in this segment.

Source: UNCTAD calculations, based on data from Clarksons Research Shipping Intelligence Network, Review of Maritime Transport 2024
Global merchant fleet – number of ships by type | Statista (60,000 ships), 2023
State of the Cruise Industry Report, CLIA, 2024
Global Ferry Market Study, Interferry, 2021

Wind Propulsion Development & Forecasts

The passenger ferry segment has not seen a large growth in wind propulsion installed vessels, with only three large ferries in operation along side 10 smaller traditionally rigged leisure cruise vessels. NOTE: Sail training vessels and small general cargo vessels that also take up to 12 passengers are not included in these figures. However, there is a growing trend of designs and newbuild orders for both expedition cruise vessels, with two currently under construction and a number of general cargo vessels that are also configured to transport up to 12 passengers too.

At present, there is little in the way of hard data or projections for growth in these sectors, however ferries on fixed routes with favourable routes are seeing increased interest for wind installations. The growth in interest in the expedition cruise vessel segment is driven in part by increased restrictions and regulation in vulnerable areas such as the West Norwegian Fjords World Heritage site introducing a zero-emissions policy for ferries and cruise ships in the region by 2026 at the latest.