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In Focus: China

China’s cruise shipbuilding needs improved supply chain and more skilled workers

shipbuilding session pic
Shipbuilding under the spotlight at Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific 2019
As a top shipbuilding country, China is gearing up for improved performance in cruise ship construction and is planning on establishing a cruise supply chain for sustainable development.

Several industry professionals shared their opinions on how to improve China’s current cruise shipbuilding business at a Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific 2019 session sponsored by Bernhard Schulte Cruise Services and moderated by John Hemgard, global marine director, United Technologies.

CCTD (CSSC Cruise Technology Development), the cruise arm of China State Shipbuilding Corp aims to form an ecological system of cruise industry and connecting upstream and downstream players to better service the market, said Lyu Zhiyong, deputy general manager. 'We will set up a joint venture shortly to focus on cruise industry supply chain development,' Lyu added.

Supply chain jv

Agreed by Tang Le, sales manager of Deltamarin, there are areas of business that need to be improved, including to promote local supply chain and encourage local suppliers to offer good quality products and services.

Kirk Du, deputy managing director of Ulstein China identified helping domestic yards become more profitable in cruise shipbuilding, to upskill shipyard workers in cruise ship building techniques and to strengthen the coordination and communication between China and European cruise industry players as key to future growth.

‘We should establish a system and set up industrial standards to better develop and regulate the industry, and we should consolidate the distributed resources,’ commented Krzysztof Kozdron, managing director of Schulte Marine Concept.

Sustainable technology

Xie Daming, leader of Ship Type Group of CCS Cruise Project Team, China Classification Society talked about sustainable technology on cruise ships, especially the consideration of using new energy such as LNG.

‘The industry is looking for sustainable development, we can not confirm which technology will lead the market but I believe China will apply new energy options on powering cruise ships in the next years,’ said Maikel Arts, segment sales general manager Cruise & Ferry, Wartsila.

Nine newbuilds

China is currently building 9 cruise ships: Greg Mortimer the first ever purtpose-built cruise ship by a Chinese yard was delivered by China Merchants Industry Holdings(CMHI) to SunStone at its Haimen production base and is building six more in the series. CSSC Carnival Cruise Shipping and Fincnatieri are moving forward with its plans to build two 133,500gt cruise ships at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for the jv with first ship scheduled for delivery in 2023 and CMHI signed a deal to build a 37,000gt cruise ship for Shanghai Style Cruise Industry Development Co with options for three more.