Carnival Sold Artemis for $100 Million, Made $45 Million Profit

Carnival Corp & PLC, which recently announced the sale of the 1984 built Artemis, received $100 million for the 44,588 gross ton ship, the world’s largest cruise shipping group says in its 2009 annual report. Carnival booked a $45 million profit from the sale.

Artania Shipping, which acquired the vessel, paid Carnival $50 million in cash, while Carnival granted seller credit secured against the vessel for the rest. Later, Artania arranged third party financing for the said amount and repaid the loan to Carnival.

Artemis, which was built as Royal Princess, will continue to operate a program for P&O Cruises on charter from Artania until the spring of 2011. It will then start cruising for Phoenix Seereisen, a German company.

Carnival depreciates its vessels over 30 years and at the end of the period the vessels carry 15 percent of their purchase price in the company’s books, it said in the annual report.