River cruise appears to be the newest frontier for some of the world's best-known ocean cruise lines.
MSC Group is reportedly eyeing a move onto Europe's rivers under its luxury Explora Journeys brand, according to a report this week by Italian maritime trade publication Shipping Italy.
Sources told the outlet that the group's passenger division has been studying the segment and working through the regulations that govern river operations country by country. Following initial publication of this story, a spokesperson for Explora Journeys said the company does not comment on speculation or rumor.
Alas, the timing of said speculation is the interesting part. Days earlier, at the Genoa delivery ceremony for Explora III, MSC Group President Diego Aponte told reporters the company needs to be careful not to get distracted from its core container shipping business.
Should MSC follow through, Explora would be sailing directly at Viking, which still owns this category, and at Celebrity River Cruises, Royal Caribbean's heavily marketed entry debuting in 2027 with a fleet on track to reach 20 ships by 2031. Both are betting on the Rhine and the Danube, which is where most of the industry already is.
Any newcomer also has to contend with AmaWaterways. The line announced earlier this year that it will grow from 31 ships today to more than 50 by 2032, including 15 new vessels in Europe and better than 60 percent capacity growth beyond it on the Nile, the Chobe, and the Mekong.
"River cruising is on a clear growth trajectory, and we are investing with purpose," CEO Catherine Powell said at the time.
AmaWaterways has also built one of the deepest advisor relationships in the segment, which is not a small thing for a brand like Explora to go up against from a standing start.
Demand in the segment is skewing luxury, with clients asking for larger staterooms, French balconies, and themed sailings, and North America is still the engine driving it. None of which makes the rivers an easy business, as this month has made plain. Low water has snarled sailings on the Danube and the Rhine simultaneously, with levels in Budapest coming within inches of a record low and the Danube in Romania hitting its lowest point since 1996. Avalon canceled departures on both rivers, while AmaWaterways, Viking, Riviera Travel, Uniworld, and Tauck have been swapping ships, moving embarkation points, and putting clients on coaches. Add thin port infrastructure, a shortage of qualified crew, rising newbuild costs, and limited slot availability at the specialized yards that build these vessels, and the barriers to entry are real.
So the world's largest container line is said to be running numbers on European river cruising during the same month your clients are getting bused from Belgrade to Vienna. Either MSC sees something in this category that survives a bad water year, or Diego Aponte was right about distractions the first time.
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