By
Alex Smith |
Building on almost three decades of experience working on cruise ship newbuild and refurbishment projects, Trevor Young founded Ocean Ventures Advisory in late 2025 to support owners, shipyards, investors and new entrants navigating increasingly complex cruise projects.
The consultancy focuses on helping clients with one critical phase often overlooked in large-scale shipbuilding projects: decision-making before contracts are signed. “The essence of the offer is early-stage clarity," says Young. “We help clients make informed, defensible decisions before contracts are signed and options disappear."
Ocean Ventures Advisory aims to reduce uncertainty in the early design stages where relatively small interventions can have significant long-term impact. “For owners and investors entering new regions or working with new yards, that upfront work quickly pays for itself,” says Young. "It reduces uncertainty, sharpens specifications and creates confidence on all sides before serious capital is committed.”
With many European shipbuilders at capacity until the mid-2030s, Ocean Ventures Advisory is particularly focused on the growing number of passenger shipping newbuild projects in Asia. “Growth in Asia is being driven by several overlapping factors: expanding regional cruise demand, government support for domestic cruise industries and the simple reality that global newbuild capacity is constrained elsewhere,” explains Young. “Asia is becoming the only realistic option for new market entrants and for owners who cannot afford to wait a decade. China is leading the way, with yards such as Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding already building its second cruise ship and other Chinese yards signing orders. Over the next few years, I expect to see more standardisation, repetition and gradual increases in project ambition as experience grows. I set up Ocean Ventures Advisory in Hong Kong as it provides a natural base for my work, bridging established cruise markets and the rapidly developing Asian ecosystem… and I like the food!”
Hong Kong provides a “natural base” for Trevor Young’s work as it “bridges established cruise markets and the rapidly developing Asian ecosystem”
Young expects Asia's repair and refurbishment market to follow a similar growth trajectory once the ships built in the region begin to age. With significant drydock capacity in Singapore and China, and capability developing rapidly in Vietnam, the Philippines and South Korea, he believes success will depend on specialised expertise rather than infrastructure alone.
“Cruise refurbishment requires careful coordination, guest-area sensitivity and strong planning discipline,” says Young. “Successful yards will be those that invest in cruise-dedicated teams, lifecycle thinking and repeatable refurbishment processes. Treating cruise ships as complex hotels rather than conventional vessels makes all the difference. Shipyards in Europe and the USA remain central to the cruise industry, particularly for complex newbuilds and major refurbishments. Stakeholders there are highly experienced, regulatory frameworks are well established, and expectations around performance and delivery are extremely high. As such, life-extension projects are becoming increasingly important, driving demand for early-stage studies, lifecycle optimisation and innovation governance. Independent advisory support from a consultancy like ours is especially valuable when balancing sustainability upgrades, operational continuity and commercial return within tight schedules.”
Looking ahead, Young predicts the industry's next phase will be defined less by individual technologies and more by integrated design thinking. "I will continue to champion integrated sustainability strategies rather than isolated technical solutions," he explains. "Sustainability today is as much about durability, maintainability and future adaptability as it is about emissions."
Central to this approach is designing ships with future change in mind, allowing for regulatory evolution, operational shifts and technological upgrades without costly structural modifications. “These decisions must be made early on in the design process, ideally before contract signing, because retrofitting flexibility later is always more expensive and disruptive,” explains Young. “From a design perspective, the most exciting opportunity is not a single product but the ability to innovate the guest experience through smarter design choices made before the contract is signed. Flow, flexibility and spatial intelligence have a huge impact on how a ship feels to passengers. If owners do not invest time in this upfront, they often spend three or four ships correcting the same shortcomings through refits and incremental changes.”
Ultimately, Young believes the industry's future depends on “designing ships that work better, feel calmer and adapt more easily over time and that starts long before steel is cut.”
Discover more insights like this in the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of Cruise & Ferry Review. Don’t miss out – subscribe for FREE and get the next issue delivered straight to your inbox.