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The frightful images of a sinking Italian cruise ship have scared off some cruise passengers, at least temporarily, during the industry’s peak booking season.
Travel agents — who book more than two-thirds of cruise passengers worldwide — have been nervously watching bookings since the Costa Concordia, which is owned by Carnival Corp, ran aground on Jan. 13.
On Monday, they got a new reason to be nervous: bookings fell significantly for Miami-based Carnival Corp. following the Costa accident. Attention is now focused on Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which reports earnings Thursday. An increase there could show that passengers are fleeing Carnival over safety fears. A decrease could indicate an overall distrust of all cruise lines.
Nearly 11 million Americans took a cruise last year, generating an estimated $14.5 billion in revenue for the industry, according to PhoCusWright, a travel research firm. Like the rest of the travel industry, cruise lines are still recovering from the recession. Several new megaships started sailing just as passengers struggling with finances decided to stay home. But 2012 was supposed to be a year of moderate growth.
Carnival won’t say exactly how much bookings have dropped, but it disclosed Monday that in the 12 days following the Concordia capsizing, there was a percent decline “in the midteens compared to the prior year.” Reservations hit a low on Jan. 16, the company said in its annual report filed with the SEC.
Carnival operates 101 ships under several brands including Costa, Carnival, Cunard, Holland America, Princess and Seabourn. It said reservations with the Costa line are “down significantly” but difficult to interpret because many Costa customers were rebooked on other ships because of the loss of the Concordia ship.
Unlike plane tickets or hotel rooms, which are mostly booked directly through the Internet, most cruises are sold by travel agents. That scattered sales approach makes it harder to gauge the impact of an accident like the Concordia.
“Who knows how many people … (were) on the fence and decided not to book?” said Michael Driscoll, editor of Cruise Week.
Barclay’s Capital noted that on Thursday, the Carnival line began offering promotional onboard credits of up to $200 for things like drinks and spa treatments.
“Despite this ad, which in normal circumstances would have stimulated strong call volume, calls remain down 10 (percent),” Barclay’s analyst Felicia R. Hendrix wrote in a note to investors.
A major unnamed online travel agent has also seen cruise call volume fall 30 percent, Hendrix said.
Hendrix also noted that cancellations in the U.S. are up 10 to 15 percent. That’s because savvy travelers are backing out of trips now in anticipation of getting the same cruise later for less.
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1901 • John F. Queeny sets up Monsanto Chemical Works in honor of his wife, Olga Monsanto, and begins making saccharin at a St. Louis plant.
1929 • Monsanto buys two companies to enter the rubber chemicals business. It also buys several other chemical companies.
1997 • Monsanto spins off its chemical group as Solutia Inc.
December 2003 • Solutia files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
May 2004 • Solutia promotes Jeffry Quinn to president and CEO after he joined the company in 2003.
May 2007 • Solutia buys the half of Brussels-based Flexsys NV, a supplier of chemicals to the rubber industry, that it didn’t own.
February 2008 • Solutia emerges from bankruptcy.
June 2009 • Solutia sells its nylon business unit.
January 2012 • Eastman Chemical announces plans to acquire Solutia.
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch research, Solutia
The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes in December held near a 19-month high, showing the stabilization in the market that began in late 2011 will extend into the new year.
The index of pending home sales decreased 3.5 percent last month after jumping a combined 18 percent in October and November, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. It was the best back-to-back reading since a buyer tax credit boosted demand in early 2010.
OPEC’s acting president said the producer group should stay out of political battles, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported Sunday, an apparent bid by the bloc to steer clear of a potential showdown between Tehran and the U.S. over threats to close the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Karim Elaibi said that while Iran’s “enemies” have imposed various sanctions on the Islamic Republic, the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ main focus should be protecting its members’ interest and not being dragged into a political struggle over oil.
Elaibi, who is also OPEC’s current president, last week said he was going to Tehran to warn against closing the strait, through which about a sixth of the world’s crude flows daily. IRNA did not say whether the tension over the waterway was raised during the oil minister’s meetings with officials.
Instead, the language reflected the warmer relations between Iran and Iraq since a U.S.-led coalition had ousted former strongman Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Shiite government in Baghdad is seen as increasingly close to Tehran, and Iran is investing heavily in Iraq.
Iran has warned repeatedly it would choke off the strait if sanctions affect its oil sales. The U.S. has enacted, but not yet put into force, sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank and, by extension, the country’s ability to be paid for its oil. The European Union, a major buyer of Iranian oil, is considering sanctions on Iranian crude.
The tension over the strait and the potential impact it would have not only on global oil supplies, but also the price of crude and the economies of the countries that buy Iranian oil, have weighed heavily on consumers and traders credit reports free.
Gulf nations have offered assurances that they would step in and provide any additional crude needed by the global market. Iran interpreted the offer as an attempt to undercut it and issued a quick warning to the Gulf Arab producers to not try to offset its exports with their own.
Elaibi’s remarks appear to be an attempt to pull the producer bloc out of the political fray, but they also reflect the uneasy balance Iraq faces.
Iraq exports most of its crude through the strait, and any attempt to shut the waterway could be a severe blow to its economy. At the same time, it appears reluctant to come across as being too harsh on its neighbor, in part because of the investments Iran provides and its ideological weight as the region’s strongest Shiite government.
His visit to Tehran came just days before Iraq inaugurates a new oil export outlet in the Gulf with a capacity of up to 900,000 barrels a day. It would be the first of five floating facilities that would eventually handle about 5 million barrels a day.
The new outlet will help Iraq, limited now by infrastructure bottlenecks, to export more oil.
The Czech Republic should sell Eurobonds this year at better terms than other eastern European Union states because of government plans to trim the budget deficit, Deputy Finance Minister Jan Gregor said.
The Finance Ministry will be ready to sell between 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) and 2 billion euros of debt from the start of February after the ministry updates its macroeconomic forecasts, Gregor said yesterday in an interview in Prague. The ministry may sell a bond on foreign markets denominated in other currencies if terms for a Eurobond issue aren
Global stock markets opened a risk-filled new year still smarting from a rough 2011, as many exchanges remained closed. German and French stocks rose in light volumes as a a reading of manufacturing activity in Europe improved.
Germany’s DAX closed up 3 percent Monday at 6,075 while the French CAC-40, which ended 2011 17 percent lower, climbed 2 percent to 3,222. Stocks fell in South Korea and closed flat in Taiwan.
Trading was light with the New York, London and most Asian stock exchanges closed.
Investors appeared to be reassured by European purchasing managers survey index numbers that improved in December from November. Activity in the manufacturing sector was up, but at levels that still show a fifth straight month of contraction.
Many of the world’s leading indexes are coming off a down year. Britain’s FTSE was off 5.6 percent by year end, Japan’s Nikkei fell 17 percent to its lowest close since 1982, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 showed zero gain.
Data releases later in the week such as eurozone inflation on Wednesday and German factory orders and U.S. non-farm payrolls on Friday will give traders more grist. The U.S. employment figure is expected to rise by some 150,000 after increasing 120,000 in November.
Markets face an uncertain first quarter as eurozone leaders try to get control of government debt woes that threaten to harm the global economy with another financial meltdown.
Much of the attention in coming weeks will center on Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy and the focal point of the eurozone’s struggle to deal with a crisis caused by heavy levels of government debt. Fears of default on those debts mean that bond investors demand ever-higher interest, making it a challenge for the new government of Prime Minister Mario Monti to roll over euro53 billion ($69 billion) in debt maturing in the first quarter cash advance. If a country can no longer borrow affordably to pay off bonds that are maturing, it faces eventual default or a bailout.
Debt woes may be compounded by at least a mild recession over the last quarter of 2011 and the first part of 2012.
In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi, which lost 11 percent of its value last year, closed nearly unchanged at 1,826.37. South Korea’s tech sector move higher, with Samsung Electronics up 2.1 percent and LG Electronics gaining 2.3 percent. Steel giant POSCO slid 1.1 percent and Korea Electric Power shed 1.8 percent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX, which was also open for business Monday, fell 1.7 percent to 6,952.21. Foxconn Technology, the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer, which makes iPads and iPhones for Apple Inc., fell 0.9 percent. Personal computer maker Acer Inc. shed 2.3 percent.
The Asian-Pacific region’s major benchmarks, including Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and Australia’s S&P ASX 200, were closed.
Last year was one that traders would prefer to forget: most Asian equity indexes closed out 2011 deeply in the red. The Nikkei in Tokyo ended the year at 8,429.45 _ its lowest closing since 1982.
China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, closed Monday, endured a 21 percent loss for the year as the impact of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar stimulus faded and the government tightened curbs on lending and investment to cool blistering economic growth.
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Federal regulators are blocking Duke Energy’s planned acquisition of Progress Energy to form the country’s largest electric company, ruling the companies haven’t done enough to protect competition in their North Carolina and South Carolina home markets.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had scheduled a Thursday hearing on changes to the merger plans in Washington, but regulators surprised the utilities late Wednesday by rejecting the companies’ solution to protect competition.
The FERC action is likely to delay the merger’s year-end target for completion and could require changes that the companies find unattractive.
A Duke spokesman said the company was reviewing the order. He wouldn’t comment about how it affects Duke’s commitment to the deal.
Jefferies & Co. analyst Paul Fremont said the companies’ next move will be to take a serious look at their power plants and decide which can be sold. Any proposed sale must be reviewed by state regulators, who would need guarantees that it wouldn’t affect pre-negotiated power rates for utility customers.
The order will delay the deal by about three months, at least, he said. The companies also may walk away from the deal at this point, deciding that the government was demanding too many sacrifices. “It’s too early to say at this point” what will happen, Fremont said.
The federal agency in September questioned the deal’s impact on customers in North and South Carolina. Regulators suggested that the companies consider a number of measures that would diminish their influence, such as selling power plants, building new transmission lines or giving up control of their transmission system to a regional operator. The companies responded last month with a plan to sell excess electricity at a fixed price to wholesale buyers in their Carolinas territories.
Regulators now say the proposal by Charlotte-based Duke and Raleigh-based Progress doesn’t go far enough.
The “mitigation proposal does not remedy the proposed transaction’s adverse effects on competition,” the FERC ruling said.
Duke first announced it planned to buy Progress in January for $13.7 billion. If approved, the combined company will serve 7.1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
Duke shares rose 12 cents to $20.97 in premarket trading Thursday while Progress shares added 6 cents to $54.49.