China's 1st homegrown cruise ship to spur entire industry

China's first self-developed cruise ship, "Adora Magic City," undocked in Shanghai on Tuesday after over three years of being under construction.

Built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., under the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), Adora is the largest passenger vessel that China has ever built, weighing over 130,000 tonnes.

The cruise liner has over 25 million components, five times the number needed to build the Chinese-made C919 aircraft and 13 times needed for the Fuxing bullet train.

The undocking of the large cruise ship that is built domestically will further spur the whole industry.

By 2035, the contribution of cruise ships to China's overall economy is expected to reach nearly 550 billion yuan ($77 billion), of which 15 percent will come from new shipbuilding and ship maintenance, Hu Defang, chairman of Bohai Shipyard Group told CMG.

China has wrapped up 2022 with an impressive performance in the shipbuilding sector, and retained the largest share of the global market for the 13th straight year, with six companies ranking among the world's top 10 shipbuilding enterprises.

As market share continues to grow, optimizing product structure is equally important, said Hu, adding that China's shipbuilding capacity is mainly concentrated in the low-end field, with insufficient high-end capacity.

The success of the first homegrown cruise liner shows a direction for the transformation and upgrading of China's shipbuilding industry, he said.

China should promote the ability to design and build large cruise ships locally, forming a local and international collaboration system, and a professional supply chain, said in a joint statement released by five Chinese ministries.

Shanghai, which houses Asia's largest cruise home port, aims to build the area into a world-class cruise industry cluster boasting a fine-tuned industrial system, world-leading high-end manufacturing, and concentrated consumption resources by 2035, according to a cruise industry development plan released by Shanghai authorities.

(CGTN)