China's second domestically built large cruise ship on April 20, 2024 enters a dock at the No.2 dock of its builder Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co (Photo: CCTV)

China's second domestically built large cruise ship on Saturday docked at the No.2 dock of its builder Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp, according to CCTV News.

Chinese analysts and industry insiders said the progress made in the second homegrown large cruise ship, which is an upgrade from the first one, attests to China's growing manufacturing capacity in building top-class vessels and will contribute to the development of China's cruise ship industry, which is in the process of recovery. 

The keel-laying ceremony is an important milestone that indicates the project will enter the next phase of the assembly process, said Chen Jianwei, an assistant to the general manager of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co, noting that after the delivery of the first domestically built large cruise ship, the Adora Magic City, the launch of the second vessel marks a milestone in the development of China's mass design and construction capabilities in the cruise shipbuilding field.

Construction began on the second China-made cruise ship in August 2022. It was not a simple duplication of the Adora Magic City, but an upgraded version that's 17.4 meters longer. The cruise ship has a total weight of 142,000 tons. It's 341 meters long and 37.2 meters wide, with 2,144 rooms, making it larger and with more rooms than the Adora Magic City. Technical enhancements include two new sets of desulfurization towers and five new advanced environmental protection systems, which are designed to make the entire ship more environmentally friendly.

The second China-made large cruise ship will be named and delivered by the end of 2026, according to plans disclosed by the shipbuilder.

"The optimization of the design and construction of the second large cruise ship not only demonstrates China's manufacturing progress in terms of the design, construction, project management and supply chain coordination of large cruise ships, but also shows that China's cruise industry has entered a new stage of mass production," a Shanghai-based shipbuilding expert, surnamed Liu, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Large cruise ships such as the Adora Magic City and its sister ship are seen as the crown jewels of the shipping industry, along with aircraft carriers and liquefied natural gas carriers. The Adora Magic City required 25 million components and parts to be built, according to media reports.

Xie Xie, a research fellow with the China Waterborne Transport Research Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday that the Chinese cruise market is expected to handle 9 million passengers a year by 2035 and it needs a total of 38 cruise ships in service.

The Adora Magic City completed its maiden commercial voyage on the first day of 2024, carrying the first group of some 3,000 Chinese and foreign passengers at the Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal.

China's shipbuilding output climbed 11.8 percent year-on-year to 42.32 million deadweight tons in 2023, according to data from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry. New orders surged 56.4 percent year-on-year to 71.2 million dwt, while orders on hand totaled 139.39 million deadweight tons as of end-December.