MSC Cruises has reported net income of 311 million euro on revenues of 2.3 billion euro for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017, compared to net income of 338 million euro on revenues of 1.9 billion euro for 2016.

MSC reported operating income of 367 million euro for 2017, up significantly from 299 million euro the year before, and said in its annual report that the reduction in net income was mainly due to the impact of the French corporate tax rate from 2016 to 2017. The company also said it was its fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth in operating income.

Gross revenue per passenger day was 164.55 euro with 124.38 euro for tickets and 40.17 euro for onboard spend in 2017, up from a gross revenue per passenger day of 152.20 euro in 2016 with 114.86 euro for tickets and 37.34 euro for onboard spend in 2016.

Operating 14 ships in 2017 compared to 12 in 2016, MSC also reported 13,716,516 passenger cruise days at a 111 percent load factor, up from 12,693,337 passenger cruise days and a load factor of 111.2 percent the year before.

In total, the MSC fleet carried 1,979,904 passengers last year versus 1,816,156 passengers in 2016.

The strategic plan is to become the third largest cruise company in the world by 2021; MSC has another 12 cruise ships on order and/or under construction.