As data of cruise traffic hosted by European ports were revealed this week at the 2018 edition of the annual Seatrade Cruise Global event, held in Florida, US, it is worth diving in the details to better understand the trends in the Mediterranean cruise port system.
Analysis by Thanos Pallis
While this has been the year that the ‘2 million cruise passengers per year’ club has expanded to three – with Balearic islands ports (2,1 m.) joining Barcelona (2,7 m.), and Civitavecchia (2,2 m.) – statistics revealed another challenging year for the Mediterranean cruise port industry.
Based on data recorded by the respective cruise ports, our PortGraphic details that the top-15 cruise ports in the Med experienced in 2017 a decline by 4,2%, with only five of the busiest Med ports sawing the number of cruise passengers hosted increasing.
Market variation
Spanish cruise ports enjoyed better record than all the rest of major Meditteranean ports. Not only the growth of Barcelona, the biggest cruise port in the Med, continued in 2017 (even at the modest 1,1%), but also the two other major Spanish ports continued to saw an upward trend. Balearic Islands rise continued (annual growth 7.3%), as did cruise traffic in Tenerife Ports (8.3%). A vibrant and dynamic Spanish market seems to continue attracting the interest of cruise shipping.
On the contrary, all the seven Italian ports in the list experienced a decline. The most significant one was recorded in Naples (-40,8%), and in Venice (-12,5%), which dropped to the 8th and 4th place of the rankings respectively.
A vibrant and dynamic Spanish market seems to continue attracting the interest of cruise shipping.
Overall, both the West Med region and the Adriatic side have been affected, leaving one to wonder whether the recent changes in the governance of the Italian ports have created an ‘adaption’ period that left a mark on market trends. Yet this leaves unanswered why the decline has been observed in the case of those ports that cruise terminal operate with limited, if any interaction with the newly established port system authorities: to give an examble, Civitavecchia, the second biggest Mediterranean cruise port, experienced a 6,1% annual decline, with the number of hosted cruisers standing now over half a million shy from the one that would allow the port of Rome surpass the ‘rival’ Barcelona as the top cruise port in the Med.
The picture is mixed, yet rather positive, in the case of the two major Greek cruise ports included in the top-15 list. In Piraeus cruise traffic remained at the levels of 2016. Given the struggling of neighbouring Turkish port to create the essential confidence of cruise lines, and the continuing reluctance of cruise passengers to return to the East Med before evidence of long-term political stability and perceived security returns, this result could be considered as an achievement by the now owned and operated by China COSCO Shipping Piraeus cruise port.
[2017] result could be considered as an achievement by the now owned and operated by China COSCO Shipping Piraeus cruise port
Operating in a different market – the Adriatic – Corfu saw cruise passengers increasing by the impressive 17,2%, a growth that stands as the biggest of all top-15 ports.
A more positive perspective induced by the long-term trends
The long-term picture though suggests the need for a more positive perspective. Since 2010 the top-15 have experienced a 10,5% growth, with visiting cruise pax per annum increasing in 10 out of 15 listed ports sawing growing numbers.
Marseille has been the port with the major growth of all, and as a result its ranking increased from the 13th position to the 4th, while Valetta (38,6%), the port that the last two years is operated by Global Ports, now stands at the 11th position when it was out of the rankings eight years ago. The second port that was not in the list of top-15 was Corfu. All top-4 ports have experienced remarkable growth within these four years.
The long-term picture though suggests the need for a more positive perspective. Since 2010 the top-15 have experienced a 10,5% growth, with visiting cruise pax per annum increasing in 10 out of 15 listed ports sawing growing numbers.
On the negative side, it is interesting that the major two ports in the Adriatic have been affected by local reactions to cruise growth. Venice (-13,3%) and Dubrovnik (-25%) continued to decline, even though that both have applied measures easing concerns of the respective local communities. The third declining port has been the Italian port of Livorno (-17,7%).
Will the Mediterranean cruise ports continued to face the pressures of a (temporary?) decline? With the reporting news that emerged last week in Seatrade Cruise Global suggesting that cruise passenger numbers growth will endure in the foreseeable future; that the order book continuing to expand; that yields in the Asian market not being the ones initially expected by several cruise pundits, and that some European markets (i.e. the British one) have returned to growth, there is scope for optimism.
The continuation of investments by experienced cruise terminal operators, the emerging presence of International Cruise Terminal Operators (including DP World in Cyprus, COSCO, but also the specialised in cruise and aggressive in terms of investments in the region Global Ports), the eventual return of political stability in the East Med, are positive signs of a market that has all the potential to return to growth sooner than later. Stay tuned…”
To cite the article: Pallis, A.A. (2018). Learning from statistics: what do trends in the top-15 cruise ports in the Med tell us? Published at PortEconomics, March 2018.
For more on the entry of private operators in the Mediterranean cruise market: visit PortEconomics and freely download the authors’ version of the award winning research paper: Athanasios A. Pallis, Francesco Parola, Giovanni Satta, Theo E. Notteboom (2018), Private entry in cruise terminal operations in the Mediterranean Sea, Maritime Economics and Logistics, 20(1), 1-28.
For more on the dynamics and hierarchies in the Mediterranean multi-port cruise region: visit PortEconomics and freely download the authors’ version of the research paper: Pallis A.A. and Arapi K. P. (2016) is accepted for publication at TOURISMOS journal (Volume 11, Number 1). A multi-port cruise region: dynamics and hierarchies in the Med. Tourismos, 11(2), pp.168-201
