With the sound of whistles, China's first domestically built large cruise ship Adora Magic City completed its undocking process in Shanghai's Pudong New Area on June 2.

The Adora Magic City. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Its builder Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, signed a cooperation agreement on the design and construction of two 135,500-metric-ton Vista-class cruise ships with the United States-based Carnival Corp and the Italy-based Fincantieri in November 2018; after nearly a year of preparation, China's first large-scale cruise ship ignited its steel plate cutting at Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding; on Nov 10, 2020, it entered the dock for complete assembly; and on Dec 17, 2021, the ship had its first floating in the dock.

"The large-scale cruise ship is a highly customized industrial art and a symbolic accomplishment in China's shipbuilding industry. The builders have boosted scientific research in an all-around manner, breaking through three major bottlenecks of system completion, interior engineering, and key technology control," said Chen Gang, general manager of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and the chief designer of the shipyard's large cruise ship project.

Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding adheres to intelligent, green, and environmentally friendly concepts, concentrating on automatic and modern manufacturing in all aspects. For instance, the company has established a thin plate center to improve the production efficiency of thin plates and control the quality of construction, utilizing new equipment and technologies such as laser cutting and robotic welding for the first time in China's shipbuilding industry to avoid the deformation of thin plates. It also unveils SWS TIME, the next-generation integrated mobile platform with independent intellectual property rights, covering design, construction, and management links.

World's first '5G cruise ship'

With a gross tonnage of 135,500 tons and certified by Lloyd's Register of Shipping and China Classification Society, the 323.6-meter-long and 37.2-meter-wide cruise ship has a maximum draft of 8.55 meters and a maximum speed of 22.6 knots. It can accommodate up to 5,246 passengers with 2,125 cabins.

"We will build a benchmark of the cruise industry in China and create high-end travel experiences for tourists from multiple dimensions such as space, food, entertainment, and shopping," said Chen Ranfeng, general manager of CSSC Carnival (Shanghai) Cruise Co.

For example, the vessel has achieved full-ship 5G mobile network coverage and application in cooperation with China Telecom; and it joins hands with the Academy of Arts & Design of Tsinghua University to set up a Silk Road-themed offshore art space.

'Setting sail against the wind'

From 2008 to 2020, Shanghai, the largest cruise homeport in Asia and the fourth-largest globally, received more than 3,000 cruise ship arrivals, with approximately 15 million inbound and outbound tourists.

"Cruise has become an indispensable part of Pudong's modern industrial system," said Wu Qiang, deputy head of Pudong New Area.

By 2035, the Waigaoqiao area is expected to form a world-class cruise industrial cluster featuring a fully developed ecosystem, high-end manufacturing, and consuming resources.