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It’s been a long time since the Titanic set the benchmark for behemoth passenger ships.
A giant of its day, weighing 46,000 tons, the ill-fated cruise liner is expected to be overshadowed in 2050 by vessels eight times its size. A study predicts the new breed of liners will be able to house the population of a small town and tip the scales at 345,000 tons. Vessels plying the world’s seas today are already twice as large as those of 25 years ago, and researchers suggest those in the future will be able to accommodate almost 11,000 passengers — compared with 2,500 on the Titanic, which sank south of Newfoundland in 1912 with the loss of 1,500 lives.
Jonathan Hood is with the eco travel advocacy group Transport & Environment (T&E), which compiled its research based on data from Clarksons, a shipping consultancy. He said: “With today’s cruise ships making the Titanic look like somebody’s private yacht, the question is: how much bigger can these giants get?”
Large passenger jets and more affordable airfares slowly killed off the long-distance cruise business, but it re-emerged as a leisure option in the 1970s and has grown 20-fold since then. It’s now the fastest-expanding sector of the tourism industry as vacationers splurge on once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
The largest vessel to date is the Icon of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean. Five times the size of the Titanic, it has 20 decks, seven swimming pools, 40 restaurants and can house 7,600 passengers.
T&E said cruise liners are an increasing threat to the environment, with carbon emissions already 20 per cent higher than in 2019.
However, operators such as MSC Cruises in Europe aim to curb emissions by 15 per cent, while smaller vessels are targeting travellers looking for cultural and wildlife experiences with smaller carbon footprints.