The contract for the design and construction of 2+4 135.5K Gross Tonnage Vista-Class large cruise ships has been officially signed by CSSC, Carnival Corporation, and Fincantieri Group.
On November 6th, during the first China International Import Expo (CIIE), the contract for the design and construction of 2+4 135.5K Gross Tonnage Vista-Class large cruise ships was officially signed at the Central Enterprise International Cooperation Forum organized by the SASAC, which will be jointly constructed by CSSC, American Carnival Corporation and Italian Fincantieri Group.
The 2+4 large cruise ships contracted this time will be all designed and constructed in SWS. It is also the first construction contract of large cruise ship signed in China in real sense, marking the the large cruise project came into the official implementation stage. China's first large cruise ship with world-class level has started substantial design and construction, which will promote CSSC to reach a new level and achieve high-quality development. Xiao Yaqing, Director of SASAC, Shen Ying, Deputy Director of SASAC, Wang Bingnan, Deputy Minister of Commerce, Lei Fanpei, Chairman of CSSC, Sun Wei, Vice President of CSSC, Arnold Donald, President and CEO of Carnival Group, Luigi Matarazzo, Executive Vice President of Fincantieri Group, and representatives of central enterprises attended the forum and witnessed the signing ceremony. Yang Jincheng, President of CSSC, Tang Mu, CEO of Costa Cruises and CEO of Carnival Group in Asia, and Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri Group, signed the contract on behalf of the respective parties.
Subsequently, CSSC held a kick off ceremony of the large cruise project. Miao Wei, Minister of MIIT attended the ceremony and announced the kick off of the large cruise project. Shen Ying, Deputy Director of the SASAC of the State Council, Xiao Guiyu, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, Chen Mingbo, Director of the Economic and Information Technology Commission of Shanghai, Wang Hong, Secretary of the Shanghai Baoshan District Committee, Fan Shaojun, District Mayor, Lei Fanpei, Chairman of CSSC, Yang Jincheng, President of CSSC, Nan Daqing, Vice President of CSSC, Arnold Donald, President and CEO of Carnival Group, Tang Mu, CEO of Costa Cruises in Asia and CEO of Carnival Group, Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri Group, Pierre Francis Lagni, Vice Presidnet of Fincantieri Group, Sun Feng, Vice President of CCS, Alastair Marsh, CEO of LR, and relevant guests from Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance, EIBC, Italian state-owned banks and other financial institutions, relevant departments as well as members of CSSC attended the kick off ceremony.
At kick off ceremony, Lei Fanpei expressed heartfelt thanks to the MIIT, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance, the SASAC, the Shanghai Municipal, the Municipal Government, the Baoshan District Committee and District Government as well as EIBC and other financial institutions, and the Carnival Group, the Fincantieri Group and related classification societies who concerned and supported CSSC of the development of large cruise ship for a long time. Lei Fanpei said that the kick off marked the comprehensive entry of CSSC into the large cruise industry and China's first large cruise ship with world-class level starting substantial design and construction. CSSC will conquer key technologies of design and construction, quickly open up the entire chain of cruise economy, enter the operation of cruise ship, promote construction of cruise home port in Shanghai Wusongkou, and unswervingly complete the history task of delivering the first domestic large cruise ship in 2023. CSSC will make unremitting efforts to contribute the transformation and upgrading and enhance the influence of China's manufacturing industry in the world. CSSC will thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the keynote speech of General Secretary Xi Jinping at the opening ceremony of the Expo, based on the current, looking forward to the future, insisting on innovation leading, with an open and cooperative attitude, actively cooperate with the Carnival Group, Fincantieri Group and Chinese and foreign Banks, various classification societies and other related parties, to realize the common development in the field of large cruise industry and create a better future for human beings.
Arnold Donald said at the kick off ceremony that China's cruise market has great potential and broad prospects, and he is full of confidence in the development of China's cruise industry. Carnival is willing to work with CSSC, Fincantieri, and other partners, to promote the implementation of first large ship project in China, at the same time with steady steps to build healthy, order, and sustainable development of Chinese cruise tourism market, help China taking off in an all-round way, and realize the "Chinese dream" in the field of cruise industry.
Giuseppe Bono said that the Fincantieri Group is honored to be involved in the first large cruise project in China. Designing and constructing large cruise ships is an extremely complex and arduous project. The Fincantieri Group has already prepared to work closely with CSSC and the Carnival Group to make every effort to promote the smooth implementation of the project and ensure the common goals of all parties.
The signed 2+4 135.5K Gross Tonnage Vista-Class large cruise ship project will be jointly designed and built by the SWS and CCTD which are both subsidiaries of CSSC, and the construction will follow the requirements of CSCC- Carnival Cruise Technology Development Co., Ltd., which is a joint venture between CSCC and Carnival, suiting characteristics of the Chinese market and tourists' preferences. The cruise ship is designed with an overall length of 323.6 meters and a width of 37.2 meters. It can accommodate up to 5,246 passengers with 2,125 rooms. At the same time, it will be classified by CCS and LR, and will be fitted with a Panamanian flag, with the contract price of 770 million US dollars per ship. After being put into operation, it will mainly serve the Chinese market to meet the growing demand of Chinese consumers for cruise travel. The first cruise ship is scheduled to be delivered on September 30th, 2023, and the second cruise is scheduled to be delivered in 2024.
Realizing the independent design and construction of large cruise ships is a major measure for CSSC to implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, implement the national strategy, and meet the people's needs for a better life. It is also an inevitable requirement for transformation and upgrading of the shipbuilding industry. Taking the large-scale cruise project as the No. 1 project to promote high-quality development, CSSC has specially set up a leading group of cruise industry development with Lei Fanpei as the group leader and Yang Jincheng as the first deputy group leader. A "2+4 large cruise ship project" administrative command line has also been set up with Lei Fanpei as the general commander and Yang Jincheng as the first deputy general commander. Through scientific verification, CSSC has formulated top-level structure and implementation approach for the development of large cruise industry, established investment operations, design and construction and local support working mechanism, and clarified the key target nodes for project implementation. In accordance with the national science and technology management mode, the cooperation between the internal and external units of the Group has been strengthened, to fully promote the smooth implementation of the project. Taking the opportunity of implementation of this large cruise ship project, CSSC will gradually establish a complete cruise ship industrial chain of operation, tourism, cruise design and construction, and key supporting facilities, creating an ecological system for the sustainable development of cruise industry in China.
In the process of promoting large cruise project, all departments and relevant units of CSSC Headquarters have taken the initiative and acted in a careful manner, carefully coordinated and solidly promoted various preparatory work, laying a solid foundation for the smooth implementation of the project. As the leading unit of the project, CCTD has done a lot of work in the technology innovation, technical consultation, supporting services, and contract negotiation, which played an important role in the smooth progress of the project. As the large cruise ship construction enterprise, SWS has world-class shipbuilding technology and facilities as well as rich experience in large-scale ship building. It has carried out a plenty of work in the production design and facilities renovation of large cruise ships, and it already has the basic conditions for construction. NDRI undertook the design of special dock reconstruction for large cruise ship to ensure the smooth construction. STRI is responsible for the construction of the thin-plate flat-section assembly line, which is of great significance for accelerating the intelligent construction of large cruise ships.
In order to establish the cruise operation mode and expand the cruise tourism market as early as possible, CSSC will also purchase two existing cruise ships from the Costa of the Carnival Group. The first imported "Costida Atlantic" is planned to be delivered by the end of 2019 and start to operation.
In order to vigorously promote the development of the domestic cruise industry, on September 27 this year, the Ministry of Transport and other 10 Ministries and Commissions issued Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of China's Cruise Economy. Local governments such as Shanghai, Guangdong and Hainan have also issued supporting policies and measures for the development of the cruise industry. With the continuous improvement of Chinese tourists' understanding, cognition and demand for cruise tourism, China's cruise tourism market will grow rapidly, bringing important opportunities for the development of the cruise industry in the future. It is widely expected that China will become the world's largest cruise market.
