2021 has started with a slimmed cruise ship orderbook of just 105 new ships projected for the next six years, compared to 116 ships at the start of 2020.

It’s a direct impact of COVID-19 and the first time the orderbook has slimmed down since 2013, when the number of new ships on order dropped from 24 to 23, showing just how aggressive the industry has planned its growth course over the last decade, according to the Cruise Ship Orderbook Data Report.

Few ship orders were placed in 2020 due to economic uncertainty and the global pandemic, while other orders were delayed and deliveries were pushed into the future and the supply chain slowed.

However, as the industry recovers and gets back on its feet, the arms race will continue, helped in part by capacity constraints at the shipyards. There are only so many shipbuilders that can build a modern cruise ship, and they can only build so many at a time; competition to get a slot will return and the orderbook will fill out to the end of the decade shortly.