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The Port of Seattle said its 2011 cruise season finished stronger than expected, with ten homeported vessels and nine ports of call making up the 196 ship calls at the West Coast port.

The number of cruise ship calls was still however 12.1 percent down on the 223 calls recorded in 2010. As a result, bunker sales volumes from the cruise ship industry are also expected to fall in 2011 following the year-on-year decrease in cruise ship calls.

Seattle has seen a rapid increase in cruise ship business since the start of the century. The port's market share of the Alaska cruise market grew dramatically, from six vessel calls to 218 in just 10 years, between 2000 and 2009.

The growth in cruise vessel calls in recent years has also, as a consequence, led to a rise in demand for marine fuel from the cruise industry with the majority of bunker purchases coming in the form of 'term contracts'. The size of the bunker market in Seattle is currently estimated to be between 1.5 - 2.0 million tonnes per year.

All cruise ships that homeport in Seattle use either low sulphur fuel or plug into shore side electrical power while docked. Smith Cove Cruise Terminal can provide shore power for two ships at once, eliminating the need to run engines while at berth.

The Port of Seattle's projection for the 2012 cruise season sets an expectation of 880,918 cruise passengers with 201 scheduled cruise ship dockings, up 2.6 percent on this year.

Next year will include the addition of Disney Cruise Line for the 2012 cruise season, which will feature the Disney Wonder, scheduled for 15 voyages to the Alaska market between May and August.

Commenting on the importance of the cruise ship market to Seattle, Tom Norwalk, President and CEO of Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau said: "Robust cruise business has been a critical component of Seattle's tourism success for the past decade, thanks to the Port of Seattle's homeport investment. The 2011 season was strong and we look forward to yet greater growth in 2012."