Delivered in 2026! The construction of domestically produced large cruise ship No.2 has been comprehensively accelerated
The highly anticipated milestone plan for the construction of the second domestically produced large cruise ship has been officially confirmed, which means that from now on, the construction of the second domestically produced large cruise ship will enter a comprehensive acceleration stage, and the construction of China's large cruise ships will officially enter the "2.0" era.
On February 28th, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Corporation, held a media conference for the year 2024, during which the schedule of the domestically produced large cruise ship No.2 was disclosed. According to the plan, the domestically produced large cruise ship No.2 will dock in mid April this year and begin continuous loading. It will achieve its first floating in early May 2025, be docked at the end of March 2026, begin trial navigation in June of that year, and be named and delivered before the end of 2026.
It is understood that the construction of the domestically produced large cruise ship No.2 officially began on August 8, 2022. At present, the detailed design drawings, production design modeling, and model balancing work of the ship have been basically completed. Special balances are being carried out on background models, outfitting installation sequence (DOP), kitchen and laundry room flue, and key area model reviews are also being carried out. It is planned to achieve basic solidification of the ship's technical status by May this year.
The domestically produced large cruise ship No.2 has undergone a series of optimizations on the basis of the same type of first ship. The ship has a total tonnage of approximately 142000 tons, a total length of 341 meters, a molded width of 37.2 meters, a designed draft of 8.17 meters, a maximum draft of 8.4 meters, a maximum speed of 22.7 knots, and 2144 guest rooms. Compared to the first ship, the total tonnage of the second large cruise ship has increased by 6700 tons, the total length has been extended by 17.4 meters, and the number of guest rooms has increased by 19. At the same time, in accordance with the 2020 stability requirements of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the Tier III standards of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the second phase requirements of the Ship Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), two sets of desulfurization towers and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems have been added; It is also equipped with a massive 16 story superstructure living and entertainment area, which can meet the richer living and entertainment needs of passengers.
Due to the larger size of the main vessel, the production and construction volume of the second ship is higher than that of the first ship. According to the plan of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, the target total construction hours of Ship 2 will be reduced by 20% compared to the first large cruise ship, the Aida Modu. On February 26th of this year, the outfitting project of the ship was officially launched. Large scale cruise ship outfitting engineering is a complex project that covers multiple specialties including equipment, piping, electrical, iron outfitting, cold air ventilation, and commissioning. It is the foundation for ensuring the navigation of the entire ship and various operational and entertainment functions.
The outfitting team of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding will focus on key nodes such as the docking of the second ship, full ship connectivity, naming and delivery, and strive to improve management innovation, process optimization, and technological breakthroughs, striving to achieve new breakthroughs in the construction of large cruise ships in China.
It is worth noting that Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding will, on the premise of clarifying the goals of independent design and construction of large-scale cruise ship projects, summarize and extract experiences in breaking through the general assembly and construction, management innovation, and related processes of large-scale cruise ships, and quickly form a unique cruise ship knowledge engineering in China.
The person in charge of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding stated that they will continue to promote the cruise ship spirit of "innovation, responsibility, open cooperation, and hard work and dedication", continuously benchmark against international first-class standards, continuously improve construction quality and efficiency, comprehensively practice the "three wins" concept, take cost control as the core, implement "weighing every ounce" in various business processes, and safely, high-quality, and timely complete the construction of the domestically produced large cruise ship No.2, Make new and greater contributions to building a high-quality and high-level local cruise industry ecosystem in our country.
