Carnival Plans To Sell Off 6 Ships After Coronavirus Bites Down On Cruise Industry

Cruise line Carnival (CCL) is looking to offload six of its cruise ships after the coronavirus put a halt to its sailing schedule.

Carnival made the announcement amid reporting losses of $4.4 billion for Q2 2020.

The company suspended its cruise operations, starting in mid-March, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 across its ships. To date, 21,000 workers are still onboard the company’s ships that are unable to dock because of governmental restrictions. Carnival said it expects to return these workers home in June.

The cruise industry, like other travel and hospitality sectors, was hit hard by the pandemic, which caused a disruption in travel plans through stay-at-home orders. Carnival said that about half of its customers with existing reservations requested a cash refund, despite being offered the opportunity to pause their reservation for a later booking date.

The plan to sell the cruise ships was already in the works for the company, but it has since been “accelerated” as a result of the impact of the coronavirus. The ships are expected to leave the fleet in the next 90 days with “additional agreements” also underway, Carnival said.

Carnival also said at the time of its earnings report that is was “unable to definitively predict” when its cruise schedule would return to normal operations, causing the company to forego any earnings forecast.

The cruise line had $7.6 billion in liquidity at the end of May. The company said it spends $250 million a day on its ongoing ship operations and administrative costs.

Carnival stock was trading at $17.64 per share at 2:10 p.m. EDT, down $1.18 from 6.27%.