South Africa could be well-placed to benefit from a cruising boom, but insufficient infrastructure and the lack of a long-term strategy may stall growth before it truly takes off.
This is according to Ross Volk, Managing Director of MSC Cruises South Africa, who was speaking at a media event last week as the cruise line wrapped up its 2024/25 local season. He believes the country needs a fundamental rethink around infrastructure or risk losing out on the benefits cruising can deliver.
“South Africa has the fourth-longest coastline in Africa at 2 800km, but how many ports are we able to call at? Just four – Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) and Richards Bay,” said Volk. “If you take a broader look and include Namibia and Mozambique, you have just two further cruise ports in a 9 000km stretch, Walvis Bay and Maputo.”
He pointed out that infrastructure hadn’t kept pace with the evolution of cruise ships. “The MSC World America is in excess of 200 000 tonnes, 65 to 70 metres high, with a capacity of almost 6 900 passengers and 2 600 crew – so nearly 10 000 people in one space. Even if the ship were to transit South Africa’s coast, it would not be able call in Cape Town, as an example, because it’s too big.”
“If we are serious about making cruising great in the country, we have got to face some hard truths about the infrastructure we need and it’s not about ports. Those will come. We have to design cities that facilitate the movement of people. And then we need to design a marketing strategy to bring people to the city. It’s only then that we should design the port infrastructure,” Volk added.
To illustrate the potential economic benefit, Volk mentioned Florida. “Florida sees a US$168bn (R3,3trn) boost to its GDP just from cruising.”
Expansion plans
The growth of MSC’s luxury cruising brand, Explora, is a big focus area for the company, with smaller ships with a capacity for about 900 passengers in 460 suites with a minimum size of 35sqm.
There are currently two Explora ships in operation, another three anticipated in the coming years, with a possible fourth being built in 2031. The size of these ships allows them to call at more off-the-beaten-track destinations, like the Norwegian fjords and smaller Greek islands.
“From a fleet-size perspective, MSC Cruises, including Explora, will have 29 vessels by the time we get to 2028,” said Volk, adding that the cruise line currently had 23 ships in its fleet.”
What’s next for local cruising
While MSC Cruises has not yet revealed which ship will sail the 2026/27 season, Volk provided some more insights into what’s coming for MSC Opera’s return to South African shores after a 13-year break, pointing out that the ship has the largest deck space per capita of any ship in the fleet, which suits South Africans’ preferences for spending most of their time on board outdoors.
MSC Opera will have 37 sailings out of Durban and Cape Town to Portuguese Island, Port Louis, La Possession, Walvis Bay and Maputo. Also, for the first time in a long time, the ship will also visit Mamoudzou, a French Protectorate in the Comorian Archipelago.
