Seatec International Maritime Review 1/2013 - PubliCo Oy

tic that the cruise industry will regain the
momentum it lost after Costa Concordia.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
Therefore, it looks like cruise business will
continue to be a good business – at least
for the cruise lines. At the short end of the
stick, however, one finds the shipyards,
which are forced to battle ferociously for
the few deals out there. In this game, the
cruise lines always have the upper hand –
no fleet will become obsolete in a day, so
there’s time to go around shopping for the
best price. Shipyards, on the other hand,
live in the now: they need work today,
not tomorrow.
It’s a rather shady courting dance,
where countries clash as well, intervening
in behalf of their own shipyards. It
was such a dance that caused the Finns
to fall flat on their faces, as not enough aid
from the Government materialized. STX St.
Nazairre, on the other hand, is in a better
position as the French Government own a
sizeable part of the shipyard – and is committed
to doing whatever it takes to stop
it from going under.
The Korean owner has made its
choice, too, by investing in St. Nazairre
over Turku for quite some time. STX Finland
is struggling to secure funding for two
TUI Cruises ships. Work has already started
in Turku on the first of the two ships, the
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