Sign of the times: Fast-growing MSC Cruises may not be fast-growing for long

mercedes · July 16, 2009

No other cruise line has grown as fast in recent years as MSC Cruises. But after exploding on the scene with the addition of nine ships since 2003 (when it had just two), it looks like the Europe-based cruise company will be taking a break.

In a rare interview published today, Mediterranean Shipping Company founder and chairman Gianluigi Aponte tells the Financial Times he's put the rapid expansion of the company's cruise division on hold for the time being due to the world's economic woes.

“We could expand this business quickly, and this was our intention,” Aponte tells the Times. “But the present economic situation has dictated a little bit of prudence, and obviously we are not ordering ships for the time being."

Speaking to the Times over the weekend at the debut of MSC Cruises' latest mega-ship, the 3,300-passenger MSC Splendida, Aponte said he also planned to scale back growth at MSC's shipping division -- the heart of the company he founded in 1969. MSC runs the world's second-biggest container ship fleet, and the Times reports the cruise division accounts for just 8% of the parent company's sales.

“It is very difficult these days to imagine growth in any of our businesses, until we see signs of economic recovery,” Aponte tells the Times.

Of course, like ships, shipping companies can't turn on a dime when it comes to growth plans. Cruise ships are ordered and locked into development years in advance of their debut, and MSC Cruises still has one more vessel on order from the boom years, the 2,550-passenger MSC Magnifica, scheduled to debut next spring. The company also has held negotiations with the Magnifica's shipbuilder, STX, for two more sister vessels for delivery in 2011 and beyond.