New White Paper: Domestic cruise shipbuilding key to China's growth

According to the latest Seatrade White Paper on Chinese shipbuilding and refurbishment it may well turn out to be that shipbuilding is the most important factor explaining the unprecedented level of support being given to the development of cruising by a national government.

It is certainly a policy given extra urgency by the problems afflicting China’s own shipbuilding industry which is struggling with global over-capacity in yards building non-passenger ships.

Chinese shipyards have been approaching European cruise shipbuilders (to see if they were willing to share technology and expertise to work on newbuilds together) ever since it became clear that the Government was committed to facilitating the development of a Chinese cruise industry.

These approaches have been further stimulated since the Government again prioritised cruise shipbuilding within its “Made in China 2025” programme to upgrade its domestic manufacturing sector.

Carnival Corporation & plc’s first China-built ship from CSSC’s Waigaoqiao yard in Shanghai is due in 2023 with a second to follow plus four more options.

Earlier this year, China Merchants Industry Holdings won the contract to build up to 10 expedition cruise ships for US company SunStone

Individual Chinese shipyards are also becoming more proactive in the marketplace.

Chinese shipyards are also looking at the refit and repair of cruise ships with perhaps the most significant development to date being the agreement between Fincantieri and Chinese repair specialist Huarun Dadong Dockyard (HRDD).

There is no doubt that China will become one of the largest cruise markets in fairly short order and, over time, the largest of all. This means that many of the future commercial opportunities in the global cruise industry will be China-linked – and this includes all those connected to the shipbuilding and refit/refurbishment sectors, highlights the White Paper.

Add Seatrade Cruise News to your Google News feed.