China Merchants Group (CMG) has signed a deal with Shanghai Style Cruise Industry Development Co. Ltd. for two new 37,000-ton luxury cruise ships with an option for two more, according to a news release. A delivery date for the first ship is 2022.
The 534-guest ships will be built in China and targeted at the Chinese market and operate under the Style Cruise brand.
China Merchant Group General Manager Xianfu Gu said: “Shanghai Style Cruise Industry Development is a cruise management company set up by an array of private enterprises, state owned enterprises and investment funds with a passion to develop the domestic cruise industry. It will in the purest sense, the first entirely China designed, built and operated luxury cruise ship.”
Tillberg Design of Sweden is also involved with the start up project, but said in a statement to Cruise Industry News it could not share more details.
Style Cruise Chairman and President Zhouli Zhao said: “Currently Chinese passengers are cruising on foreign cruise ships and China’s cruise tourism economy remains at a ‘passing economy’ status. Realizing Chinese designed and built cruise ships does not only address China’s 2025 Made in China strategic goal, but is also CMG’s industry pursuit and also represents our investors patriotism and dream to repay our motherland.”
The deal announced today follows a collaborative agreement signed in 2017.
