This week has seen new developments in cruise shipbuilding, and, besides one possible exception, the booming trend is expected to continue long into the future. Demand for cruising is high. New cruise ships can’t launch fast enough to accompany all of it, but international shipyards are trying hard to deliver.
Genting Hong Kong, the parent company of Crystal Cruises, has now consolidated its recently purchased trio of shipyards, formerly Nordic Yards, under one new name — MV Werften (MV abbreviating the German State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Werften being the plural form of Werft). Plus, just today, Holland America Line has announced initial construction on its upcoming Nieuw Statendam, with the ship’s first steel cutting at the Fincantieri shipyard in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
Both MV Werften and Fincantieri represent several shipyards in Germany and Italy respectively, leaving Lloyd Werft, also owned by Genting, in Germany; Meyer Turku in Finland and Meyer Werft in Germany; STX France in Saint-Nazaire and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan as the remaining major players in cruise shipbuilding. However, Mitsubishi only has one more cruise ship currently on its schedule — the sister ship to the AIDAprima, which just launched in April after construction delays — and the yard is now, in fact, reconsidering its future in the cruise industr
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