Cruiseships are the Holy Grail for shipbuilders, something that have largely eluded Asian shipyards with the exception of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on/off flirting with the sector. Cruiseships costs hundreds of millions of dollars to build, require extremely diverse and competent subcontractors and suppliers and take years to perfect. To date they have been the meat and drink of Europe’s otherwise withering shipbuilding scene. Now, however, the Chinese are ready to make an impact.

State-run China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) has announced plans to develop China’s first self-built cruise ship together with the world leading cruise operator Carnival and the Italian shipyard Fincantieri.

Hu Wenming, president of CSSC, is confident his firm can get the job done.

CSSC’s own ship design arm, CSSC Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI), is working to get plans together.

“As the major shipbuilding conglomerate in China, we should not be satisfied with building the traditional ships like bulk carriers, containerships, and tankers, the cruise market in China is huge and it is a wise step of the company to get into,” an official from the R&D department of SDARI tells Asia Cruise News, “We believe we have the ability to complete the development and construction of a luxury cruiseship, although it might take five or 10 years, maybe even longer.”

China is the fastest growing cruise market in the world and there is increasing demand fo ...   More>>