Cancelled cruises hit Cochin Port revenues

A wave of ship cancellations threatens to hit Cochin Port hard during the ongoing cruise season

The Red Sea crisis has prompted several shipping lines to call off voyages rather than expend more time and money in using the alternative route around Africa. Attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militants on ships in the strait of Bab al-Mandan, along the passage from the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal, have forced liners operating between Europe and Asia to take the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

In the previous season, which ended in April, 10 vessels cancelled their visit to Cochin Port, dashing its hopes of cashing in on the rising trend of cruise holidays.

The protracted geopolitical crisis in the Red Sea is prolonging the uncertainty in the cruise industry. Officials of a shipping agency say 10 of the 22 cruise vessels they booked for voyages to Cochin Port between September and April-May next year have cancelled, including leading lines.

At stake is the fortune of the dedicated cruise terminal opened by Cochin Port, which received 44 cruise calls in 2019-20 and handled more than one lakh international travellers and crew members. With potential to handle more, including home-porting of vessels bound for destinations such as Maldives, Colombo and countries in South-East Asia, the terminal now stares at a second successive season of major cancellations.

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A leading travel agent in Kochi focusing on overland tours says a few cruise liners owned by US companies have cancelled visits to Indian ports and the Gulf region amid fears that their Jewish crew and passengers could be targets of militants attacking ships in the Red Sea. This, in turn, has led to the scrapping of overland tours to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur between March and May 2025, and a loss of ₹1 crore in a single billing. “This is the case for the medium-sized cruise ships we handle. The loss would be much bigger for larger ships,” he says.

The cruise season usually fetches bonus business for shipping firms and other stakeholders such as guides, tour operators, and taxi services for nearly 40 days in a year; the cancellations impact their earnings too as the average spend of a foreign tourist is pegged at $150-250. The port stands to lose revenue of ₹15-20 lakh by way of ship handling charges, he says.

Impact on crew rosters 

Jose Paul, former Chairman of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, points out that the longer route around the tip of Africa is also adversely affecting crew changes, apart from incurring higher economic costs.

Merchant navy officers typically enter into four- or six-month contracts so the longer route necessitates an extension of their contractual period. This leads to loss of employment for those waiting to take up fresh contracts. 

It is no different for seamen, too, who face extended contracts beyond the usual 6-9 months, he says.

The significant spike in shipping freight rates due to the Red Sea crisis has adversely impacted global maritime trade too, he adds.

Binu KS, president of the Kerala Steamer Agents Association, says that after causing massive supply chain woes in the containerised trade lines, global tensions have hurt the tourism and cruise industries as well. 

“We expected a robust cruise season in Kochi but now we receive news about cancellations of many voyages as operators and tourists are reluctant to opt for the Asia-Europe route because of the escalating tension in these regions,” he says.