China is poised to enter the world of cruising with reports of construction commencing on the nation's first significant cruise ship, Maritime Matters reports.
The China Daily website reports that construction began in July on a 100,000GRT luxury ship at the Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry located in Xiamen, Fujian province.
The ship, which will carry over 2,000 passengers, is being built at a cost of 3.1 billion yuan (USD485 million). The construction is projected to take six years, with delivery slated for October, 2018.
Based on differing sources the ship will be named either 'China Xiamen' or 'Xiamen China'. The operating company is the Xiamen International Cruise Company, which is a subsidiary of Beijing-based Shan Hai Shu Group.
The ship is intended for the Chinese cruise market. There will be eight Chinese restaurants with only one western-style restaurant. The interior decor will feature traditional Chinese paintings and artworks with examples of antique furniture. Current plans call for the new ship to operate on Asia-centric cruises of varying lengths visiting ports in South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and Taiwan.
The ship is one part of a larger project designed to extensively promote Xiamen as a future cruise hub. The Southeast China International Shipping Center package includes 10 projects led by the local construction of the large cruise liner, a cruise terminal with a massive shopping and entertainment complex and a shipping business center in the city of Xiamen, local officials said. The combined investment is expected to top 16.73 billion yuan (USD2.63 billion).
Xiamen is located in one of China’s five special economic zones open to foreign investment and was until recently known as a city of export-oriented factories. In recent years however, tourism has taken off and made the city a top leisure destination. The Port Of Xiamen currently has 81 berths which can handle vessels of all sizes, including 16 deep-water berths. Xiamen is the world’s largest supply base of raw tungsten materials.
Some very important names in the shipping world will be working with the Chinese to develop this new ship. Most notably, PFJ Marine Consulting (headed by Stephen Payne OBE) has been contracted “to design the interior in line with five-star standards.” Mr Payne is best known as the designer of the 'Queen Mary 2' and the 'Rotterdam (vi)', and has worked extensively in the past with Carnival Corporation Shipbuilding. His partners are Jeff Frier who had a hand in the 'Norwegian Epic' and Raoul Jack who was Carnival’s Director of Newbuilds during the construction of the latest superb trio of ships for Seabourn Cruise Line.
Also onboard is the firm of Deltamarin, the Finnish group that contributed to Royal Caribbean’s most recent pair of giants, 'Oasis of the Seas' and 'Allure of the Seas', along with Celebrity Cruises' 122,00GRT 'Solstice Class'.
In previous months it was widely reported that Royal Caribbean International would be involved in various aspects of the Chinese shipbuilding project. After indicating that they would at least be acting as consultants in August, Royal Caribbean denied that they had any involvement with either the Chinese government or the Xiamen cruise projects. Royal Caribbean had planned to charter the 69,130GRT, 1,804 passenger 'Legend of the Seas' for a four-month period beginning in March to new joint venture partner China World Cruises, but the deal fell through when the charter terms were not met. It is not known if this event contributed to souring any deal with the Chinese regarding the new ship.
Royal Caribbean is rapidly becoming a major player in the Asian cruise market. 'Voyager of the Seas' is now the largest ship to be based seasonally in China. The 137,276GRT, 3,117 passenger vessel sailed from Shanghai this year. In June, 2013 sister ship 'Mariner of the Seas' will become the second large ship to reposition to China. China has a massive middle class, which is just beginning to emerge to form an almost completely untapped travel market potential of 56 million persons. If trends continue, it will be the fourth largest source of cruise passengers by 2020. It already is a very significant contributor to Royal Caribbean’s revenue.
A couple of other small cruise operators in China were announced earlier this year. Hong Kong-based Runfeng Ocean Deluxe Cruises recently began operations with the 17,370GRT 'Ocean Dream'. The ship is registered in Sierra Leone and sports a dragon painted on her bows, but is otherwise little altered externally from her original 1972 appearance as a P&O ship. Also new is the China Cruise Company, which purchased and renamed the 'China Star' (ex 'Radisson Diamond', 'Omar Star', 'Asia Star') for USD45 million. The first SWATH design for a large passenger ship when built in 1992, the 20,295GRT vessel has been used primarily for gambling cruises out of Hong Kong in recent years and still caters to the high-roller gamblers from mainland China. It is the Chinese mainland’s first luxury cruise ship and if successful, the line plans a fleet of four or five ships to operate in the Asian market.