MAN Diesel & Turbo and MV Werften have concluded a contract to equip two “Global Class” cruise ships for Star Cruises. This has been announced recently by the two companies.
With a registered tonnage (RT) of 200,000 tons each, the ships will be some of the largest on the market and will each be equipped with six four-stroke MAN type 48/60CR engines with a combined output of 96,000 kW. The ships are scheduled for delivery in 2020 and 2021.
The customer and recipient of these ocean-going giants, which will operate in China and all over Asia, is the “Star Cruises” brand of Genting Hong Kong. Genting Hong Kong has been active in the cruise business for 23 years and recently launched its new luxury cruise line brand “Dream Cruises – The Most Luxury Asian Cruise Line” with two 150,000 RT ships – the “Genting Dream” delivered this month and “World Dream” to be delivered next year, both equipped with MAN engines. Genting Hong Kong also owns “Crystal Cruises – The Most Awarded Luxury Cruise Line in the World”.
This year, the company bought German shipyards in Wismar, Rostock and Stralsund and now operates them as the shipyard group MV Werften. This strategic step was taken to secure the company’s expansion plans in the growth markets of South-East Asia and China and in the global market for luxury cruise ships.
“The cruise business is globally experiencing strong growth. This has led to very long lead times of up to 10 years for new large cruise ships, since only few shipyards are specialized in the very challenging construction process of cruise ships. We want to change this by having earlier delivery and incorporate the latest design as the ships are being built”, comments Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, Chairman and CEO of the Genting corporation. Genting has recently introduced and officially confirmed their investment plans for MV Werften. The two giant cruise vessels of the “Global Class” for Star Cruises are part of the plan. Additionally four river cruise vessels of the “Rhein Class” for Crystal River Cruise will be built and delivered in 2017 / 2018 as well as three expedition mega yachts of the “Endeavor Class”. The latter one are scheduled for delivery in 2019, 2020 and 2021. With the beginning of 2021, Genting announced to increase the production at MV Werften with annually two vessels of the “Global” and two of the “Endeavor Class”.
