Carnival Corp. signed an MOU with China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). The purpose of the understanding is to explore the possibility of a joint venture between the two firms and to explore the possibility of accelerating the development and growth of the Chinese cruise market. It is estimated that there are a potential 4-5 million potential passengers in the region.
The above may sound like legal mumbo-jumbo but this is rather significant news. We’ve all seen the recent industry attention devoted to China, even so far as homeporting recently built ships there. Carnival will potentially work with its shipbuilding partners at Italy’s Fincantieri to build the first purpose built ship for the Chinese market.