Hainan Strait Shipping to deploy new passenger ship to Xisha

Hainan Strait Shipping, the only company in China to operate cruises to Xisha will put 500 passenger capacity Haisi Gongzhu or Sea Silk Princess into operation this October.

Hainan started operated cruises from Sanya to Xisha in April 2013 on the company’s Yexiang Gongzhu, or Scent of Princess Coconut.

Up until May this year, Scent of Princess Coconut has completed 60 cruises visiting the Xisha islands of Yinyu, Quanfu and Yagong and carrying more than 8,000 passengers in total.

Ye Wei, deputy manager of Hainan Strait Shipping, said the company is spending RMB150m ($24m) to build Sea Silk Princess in a local shipyard.