Ocean Ventures Advisory has been formed to guide and consult on cruise ship building in Asia and is headed up by Trevor Young who most recently was vice president of newbuilding at MSC Group, overseeing the newbuild programs at MSC and Explora.
Young said more cruise ship newbuilds in Asia are coming, and the industry needs a guide that has been on both sides of the table.
He said that since Europe’s big four shipyards, Meyer Werft, Chantiers de l’Atlantique, Fincantieri and Meyer Turku, are essentially booked solid for the next decade, any newcomers may be looking to Asia to build.
“The only other option is to go to Asia,” said Young, who founded Ocean Ventures Advisory in Hong Kong after nearly three decades in the cruise industry spanning newbuild strategy, technical operations and senior management roles across multiple major operators.
He said ships in the 120,000 to 150,000 gross ton range are realistic targets for building in Asia. Another option, he said, would be to do most of the steel work and other technical work in Asia and finish a potential new cruise ship in Europe.
Smaller vessels, expedition ships and new-to-market entrants are where Young expects the early action.
He said he is already in conversation with a number of operators and potential market entrants, and is fielding inquiries from companies further afield.
Ocean Ventures Advisory operates across three service lines.
Young said he can consult shipyards on how to navigate the demands of ship owners.
He can also work with operators on managing the build process, particularly in markets where the norms are less established.
And for larger mandates, the company can help pull together the full network of designers, outfitters, technical specialists and yards needed to take a project from concept to delivery.
He stressed the importance of pre-contract discipline.
Young is an advocate for what he called a “master plan GA,” which is a general arrangement that is detailed enough that every major area of the ship has been properly analyzed before ink is put to contract, helping to protect both parties.
The traditional GA cruise lines have become accustomed to is essentially a placeholder: a rough footprint showing where the galley sits relative to a crew lift, an approximate cabin count on a given deck and a bar marked in the right area.
Cruise lines have historically signed contracts at that level of detail, then spent the following years renegotiating as the real requirements became clear. It is, Young said, a recipe for change orders, cost overruns, and strained yard relationships.
The master plan GA is something different. Every space on the ship must pass through a defined criteria checklist before the arrangement is considered complete. A restaurant is not simply sized and located — it is stress-tested for seat count against projected passenger load, checked for indoor-outdoor transitions requiring proper airlock and more.
A bar may be analyzed for the number of beverage stations its service model demands, not guessed at. Crew cabin counts and galley sizing flow from the operational requirements of the ship, not from available hull space. The document is not a final design, and materials, exact layouts, and finishes remain to be resolved, but it is detailed enough that a shipyard can price a contract accurately.
Young gave a timeline for a hypothetical new entrant building a smaller vessel in Asia: two and a half years from concept to contract, another two and a half years build time.
“That’s not bad,” he said. “It’s roughly what we do today.”
As yards accumulate experience that timeline will compress further.
“I’ve spent my whole career developing this,” Young said. “The network, the knowledge, the relationships on both sides. Now I can take people on that journey.”
