Disney Cruise Line is reportedly the frontrunner to buy the nearly completed giant cruise ship Global Dream that MV Werften was building at the time its parent Genting Hong Kong collapsed in January.
The US-based cruise subsidiary of Disney Corp is in serious negations with MV Werften’s insolvency administrator Christoph Morgen, according to German news outlet NDR.
Citing plans by Morgen, the respected and well-known broadcaster said that if Disney were to acquire the ship, it would assign the task of completing the Global Dream as a Disney-themed ship to German cruise ship builder Meyer Werft, which would complete the work at the MV Werften facility in Wismar.
Final delivery of the completed vessel could occur during 2024 and would secure employment in Wismar for around 950 former MV Werften employees.
The potential sale was raised in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state cabinet last Tuesday, with the state’s economic minister Reinhard Meyer speaking only of confidential negotiations.
Nothing is known about the possible purchase price for the Global Dream. The ship came with a €1.6bn ($1.55bn) price tag when first ordered and so far €1.3bn has been spent on the construction of the ship.
Of that amount, about €600m was contributed by Genting, while €600m came in the form of loans from 16 banks that were largely guaranteed by the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Disney declined to answer media questions last week, and could not be reached on Monday due to public holidays in the US.
Design revamp
Cruise industry sources following the Global Dream said that if Disney buys the ship, which was tailored specifically to the Asian market, it will require a lot more work than just completing it to its original specifications.
Many aspects of the vessel’s interior layout and design, as well as its external appearance, will likely be redesigned to fit Disney’s carefully curated brand image, TradeWinds was told.
In August, Morgen said the Global Dream was structurally complete but still required the installation of some equipment and passenger facilities.
Much of that equipment is already on site waiting to be installed, including a water park and custom-designed roller coaster.
About 90% of the 3,300 prefabricated cabins designed to house 9,000 passengers had already been installed before work stopped following Genting’s bankruptcy.
Morgen, who has overseen the liquidation of MV Werften’s shipyard facilities and other assets, has been under pressure to find a buyer for the Global Dream after the Wismar yard where it is under construction was sold to Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) in June.
The Kiel-based company, which is one of the world’s leading submarine builders and in 2024 wants to start the construction of submarines for the German government in the building dock that the Global Dream currently occupies.
The second global-class newbuilding that MV Werften was building for Genting was cancelled earlier this year when work on the ship was still in the early stages, with only the lower hull blocks completed.
These have been scrapped and the equipment that was intended to be used in the ship’s construction is being sold off.
