GENTING Hong Kong, parent company of major Asian cruise operator Star Cruises, is spending 707.2 million euros (US$959.2 million) on a new build from German shipbuilder Meyer Werft.
In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday, the company said that the vessel would be designed to cater to the China, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets in particular, strengthening its brand there. Delivery is expected in October 2016.
Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of Cruise Shipping Asia-Pacific, Genting Hong Kong’s COO, William Ng, said the new ship would be an “international-style ship with Asian touches such as karaoke”, like the rest of the cruise operator’s fleet.
He added that while demand from China was still “building up”, he was confident that the company’s cruise offerings would take off in the market.
Star Cruises this year home ported Superstar Gemini in Shanghai (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 2, 2013), its second destination in China after it entered Sanya in 2012.
Asked why Star Cruises had taken so long to build a new ship, Ng answered: “Over the last few years the economy has gone up and down, but our chairman decided now was time (to buy a new ship).”
