China's first domestically built large cruise ship “Adora Magic City” Photo: Screenshot of the official website of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co

China's first domestically built large cruise "Adora Magic City," also known as "Mo Du" in Putonghua, is undergoing final preparations for the floating of the vessel by adding water into the assembly dock on Thursday, and is scheduled to leave the dock on June 6, China Media Group reported on Thursday.

The delivery of the "Adora Magic City" reflects a breakthrough in China's shipbuilding industry, and filled the blank in China building large cruise ships, according to the report.

Built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co (SWS) under the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), the large cruise ship is the world's most complex single electronic product made up of over 25 million individual parts, five times over the number of individual parts used in China's first domestic aircraft, the C919, and 13 times that of the "Fuxing" bullet train.

The steel cutting ceremony of the first large cruise ship was held in Shanghai on October 18, 2019, marking the launch of the construction of the "Adora Magic City."

The "Adora Magic City" is as tall as a 24-floor building and can accommodate over 6,500 passengers at capacity after being put into use. The accommodation and leisure area covers a total of 14 decks, and over 40,000 square meters of public areas are equipped with a variety of leisure and entertainment facilities, including multiple restaurants, theaters, shopping areas, water parks, gyms, basketball courts, among other amenities.

The large cruise ship will be used in voyages to Japan and Southeast Asia departing from Shanghai, and will serve in medium and long routes along the Maritime Silk Road, CSSC confirmed.

The large cruise ship, was named as the "crown jewel" of the global shipbuilding industry along with aircraft carrier and large LNG carrier, and was the last "jewel" that had not been claimed by Chinese shipbuilders.

After the "Adora Magic City" is delivered, China will become the fifth country capable of building large cruise ship following Germany, France, Italy and Finland. The official website of SWS showed that the second self-built large cruise ship started construction on August 8, 2022.

By the end of the first quarter of 2023, China's shipbuilding industry topped the global market share in three major indicators of completion volume, new order intake and order at hand, with 43.5 percent, 62.9 percent and 50.8 percent, respectively, official from China's National Development and Reform Commission revealed on April 20.

Global Times