Private firm Global Ports Holding (GPH) has been awarded preferred bidder status following public tender process to manage cruise port operations in the Canary Islands.
A joint venture is planned to run concessions at Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, the port of Arrecife in Lanzarote and Puerto del Rosario in Fuerteventura, which have tenures of 40 years, 20 years and 20 years respectively.
The concessions are expected to start before the end of the financial year, “although there can be no certainty as to the timing or that the final conditions will be satisfied,” Global Port Holding cautioned.
Company chief executive Emre Sayin said: “On successful conclusion of the concession agreements, these ports will take the total number of cruise ports GPH operates and manages to 22.
“Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, GPH is continuing to deliver on its strategic ambitions of growing its cruise port network.
“The addition of these cruise ports will take our cruise passenger capacity to over 15 million passengers per year including minority owned ports.”
The agreement came as GPH reported reduced half year losses of $500,000 from $5.6 million in the same period to September 30 last year as the global cruise industry was brought to a standstill by the pandemic. Total revenue rose 32% to $61.1 million in the period.
Cruise passenger volumes for the six month period were up year-on-year at 563,000, reflecting “the steady but slow return to activity across the cruise industry following the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic”.
The company added: “While cruise calls and passenger volumes for the period remained significantly below the levels achieved pre-Covid 19, there has been a material increase in activity levels in recent months.
“In September 2021, for the first time since pre-Covid 19, all of our cruise ports received cruise calls, a significant milestone in the continued recovery in activity levels across our cruise ports.
“On a like-for-like basis during September 2021, our ports received 53% of the cruise calls and 30% of the passengers received for the same period pre-Covid 19.
“Compared to cruise calls, the lower passenger recovery primarily reflects the impact of on-board Covid-19 measures that have reduced current occupancy rates across the industry.”
Looking forward, the company said: “No matter where a cruise port currently is on its recovery trajectory, the current outlook is positive.
“The current itineraries of cruise lines point to a continued pick-up in activity levels as more cruise ships return to service, with most cruise lines expecting close to 100% deployment in the summer of 2022.
“In the absence of a return to travel restrictions, this is a very encouraging outlook.
“However, a decisive factor in the financial performance of GPH will be cruise ship occupancy levels.
“As a result of on-board Covid-19 measures, occupancy levels remain significantly below long-established historical norms of over 100%.
“However, occupancy levels are expected to steadily increase over the next 12 months, trending back towards a run rate of c100% by the end of calendar year 2022.”