With its latest two-ship order at Fincantieri, TUI Cruises is set for an estimated 131 percent capacity increase from 2018 to 2027.
This year, the TUI brand can carry 511,854 passengers (double occupancy), according to the 2018-2019 Cruise Industry News Annual Report. By 2027, that will increase to approximately 1.2 million passengers.
The two new ships are scheduled for deliveries in 2024 and 2026, and the full-year impact of the second ship will be in 2027.
Since 2009, TUI has been on a steady expansion course, starting with one ship, the Mein Schiff 1, the former 1,850-passenger Celebrity Galaxy, and eventually started its own newbuild program with the first new ship entering service in 2008.
So far TUI has introduced six new ships, with another newbuild, the Mein Schiff 2, set for 2019 delivery.
The original Mein Schiff 1 was transferred to another TUI brand, Marella, where she now sails as the Marella Explorer. While Mein Schiff 2 was also scheduled to be transferred, she will instead stay with TUI, but be renamed Mein Schiff Hertz, as a new Mein Schiff 2 enters service.
After the aggressive non-stop expansion pace from start-up until this year, TUI takes a breather from 2019 until 2023, when the Mein Schiff 7 is delivered Meyer Turku.
The 97,000-ton Mein Schiff 3,4 5 and 6 have passenger capacity of 2,500, while the 112,000-ton Mein Schiff 1, 2 and 7 have a passenger capacity of .2,900
The next generation of ships being built by Fincantieri will be 160,000 tons and while TUI did not release the passenger capacity, it is expected to be around 4,000.
By 2027 TUI will have a fleet of 10 ships and 28,584 berths.
