Given the double prisms of ecological awareness and common sense, the existence of the cruise industry could be viewed as anomalous (“Ambitious Money Leap Keeps Carnival Alive” report, FT Weekend, April 24).
Instead, it is carried by equity and debt investors. They are only demanding their interest out of the loans made to Carnival as both funding sources and the cruise lines recklessly ignore the societal costs involved as the ships appear to be petri dishes for viruses, including Covid-19. Due to their oversized dimensions, they also require heating oil with high greenhouse gas emissions.
The article also notes that “from a debt market point of view,” the carnival “is now almost too big to fail”.
It strikes me that many countries are already trying to regulate such oversized companies, and I wonder what the benefit is in this case – except for cruise lines and stock investors.
Richard Freeman
Kensington, CA, USA
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