The challenge facing China in establishing a foothold in the potentially lucrative cruiseship market differs greatly from Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI)’s ill-fated earlier assault on the sector.
With slots at Europe’s major cruiseship yards virtually sold out for the next four years and deliveries even scheduled into 2024 and 2025, focus has switched to China.
Carnival Corp has pioneered the move by signing a memorandum of understanding with China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) to build a series of Vista-class, 133,000-gt vessels at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) in collaboration with Italy’s Fincantieri.
