5 ms·

That cruise ship example is wild. To do all that work (450,000 man hours) to just add 50 feet to the length of the ship... a 12% increase in passenger capacity

That cruise ship example is wild. To do all that work (450,000 man hours) to just add 50 feet to the length of the ship... a 12% increase in passenger capacity. Obviously it must be cost effective but on face value it looks crazy.

dspillett 5y ago
My dad used to work for a ship servicing & repair shop ("Humber Ship Repairers"), now defunct. I remember them doing this to a Sally Line ferry. It was fascinating seeing the progress when we occasionally drove past the dry dock. Very little for a while as things were cut through internally, then suddenly one trip the thing was in two halves and the new middle was being put in place.
zymhan 5y ago
It does seem crazy. This bit in the article claims that a retrofit would be faster than building entirely new ships. > The lengthening is a novel approach to adding vessel capacity as shipyard availability shrinks. With demand soaring, many cruise shipbuilders are booked into the early 2020s, and expedition/luxury lines are increasingly ordering newbuilds at yards that used to specialize in offshore vessels or yachts.
- stephenr 5y ago
  It seems crazy to think there is demand for new cruise ships, now.
  - jjk166 5y ago
    The article quoted is from 2018
henshao 5y ago
back of envelope: 450k man hours = 225 people full time, 1 year @ ~ 70k a year = 15m They added 34 more suites * 2 people * $1000 per person per cruise week = 78000 more per trip ~200 trips to pay back the cost - not sure what the utilization of cruise ships is usually, but if they do 40 packed cruises a year, they're at a ~5 year ROI. I guess I forgot the cost of the new section itself, but I'm going to guess all in, < 10 years ROI?
- CoastalCoder 5y ago
  Don't forget the opportunity cost of the ship being out of commission during that work.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - ansible 5y ago
    Though it is quite possible the ship was due for refit anyway.
- alexpotato 5y ago
  They key thing here would be to factor in all of the costs for a new ship e.g. - Design time - building time - "fit and finish" time etc - cost for all of the above It's very possible the cost (or even ROI) would be larger(longer) than your calculations.
  - resonantjacket5 5y ago
    I think it was more of they were already going to refurbish the ship. I doubt extending a brand new ship would make any sense.
- khc 5y ago
  if you have more passengers, you will also have more cost to service these passengers per trip.
- throwaway201606 5y ago
  The ship is a luxury cruise liner: the article, somewhere close to the bottom, says "Pricing for the 7-day cruise starts at $5,600 per person" that 'starts" in the last part is kinda-important ... I took a look and they have 1 week cruises for $22,000 So, its really more like 34 more suites * 2 people * $5600 per person per cruise week = $380,000 more per trip at the low end 34 more suites * 2 people * $22000 per person per cruise week which is just over $1.4M more per trip at the high end Assuming $15M from the 450k man-hours and $23M in materials for the retro-fit, (seriously over-estimating materials because I want the nice easy math that goes with a $38M total), it would be: - 100 cruise-weeks or about 2 years to re-coup at the low end - ~30 cruises (not cruise weeks, literally cruises ) to re-coup at the high end

dspillett 5y ago

My dad used to work for a ship servicing & repair shop ("Humber Ship Repairers"), now defunct. I remember them doing this to a Sally Line ferry. It was fascinating seeing the progress when we occasionally drove past the dry dock. Very little for a while as things were cut through internally, then suddenly one trip the thing was in two halves and the new middle was being put in place.

zymhan 5y ago

It does seem crazy. This bit in the article claims that a retrofit would be faster than building entirely new ships. > The lengthening is a novel approach to adding vessel capacity as shipyard availability shrinks. With demand soaring, many cruise shipbuilders are booked into the early 2020s, and expedition/luxury lines are increasingly ordering newbuilds at yards that used to specialize in offshore vessels or yachts.

stephenr 5y ago
It seems crazy to think there is demand for new cruise ships, now.
- jjk166 5y ago
  The article quoted is from 2018

henshao 5y ago

back of envelope: 450k man hours = 225 people full time, 1 year @ ~ 70k a year = 15m They added 34 more suites * 2 people * $1000 per person per cruise week = 78000 more per trip ~200 trips to pay back the cost - not sure what the utilization of cruise ships is usually, but if they do 40 packed cruises a year, they're at a ~5 year ROI. I guess I forgot the cost of the new section itself, but I'm going to guess all in, < 10 years ROI?

CoastalCoder 5y ago
Don't forget the opportunity cost of the ship being out of commission during that work.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- ansible 5y ago
  Though it is quite possible the ship was due for refit anyway.
alexpotato 5y ago
They key thing here would be to factor in all of the costs for a new ship e.g. - Design time - building time - "fit and finish" time etc - cost for all of the above It's very possible the cost (or even ROI) would be larger(longer) than your calculations.
- resonantjacket5 5y ago
  I think it was more of they were already going to refurbish the ship. I doubt extending a brand new ship would make any sense.
khc 5y ago
if you have more passengers, you will also have more cost to service these passengers per trip.
throwaway201606 5y ago
The ship is a luxury cruise liner: the article, somewhere close to the bottom, says "Pricing for the 7-day cruise starts at $5,600 per person" that 'starts" in the last part is kinda-important ... I took a look and they have 1 week cruises for $22,000 So, its really more like 34 more suites * 2 people * $5600 per person per cruise week = $380,000 more per trip at the low end 34 more suites * 2 people * $22000 per person per cruise week which is just over $1.4M more per trip at the high end Assuming $15M from the 450k man-hours and $23M in materials for the retro-fit, (seriously over-estimating materials because I want the nice easy math that goes with a $38M total), it would be: - 100 cruise-weeks or about 2 years to re-coup at the low end - ~30 cruises (not cruise weeks, literally cruises ) to re-coup at the high end