Full steam ahead!

By Wang Zhefeng Source:Global Times Published: 2014-4-14 18:43:01

Star Cruises' SuperStar Gemini and its sun decks Photo: CFP

Star Cruises' SuperStar Gemini and its sun decks Photo: CFP



By 2020 China wants to be welcoming 4.5 million cruise ship passengers a year and be the busiest and largest cruise ship market in the east Pacific. The ambition was outlined by the Ministry of Transport, which, on March 18, published a guide for the promotion of the sustainable and healthy development of China's cruise ship industry. The ministry said the cruise business was important for China's economy.

Adding to its status as an economic, financial and trade center, Shanghai has been pushing itself forward as the International Shipping Center for China and developing its cruise ship business is part of this target.

There are two large cruise ship ports in Shanghai - the Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal and the Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal. Last year, 128 large international cruise ships visited Wusongkou bringing 600,000 passengers. This year the port is expected to welcome 239 cruise ships, carrying 1 million passengers.

Cheng Juehao is the deputy president of the Cruise Economy Institute with the Shanghai International Shipping Institute. He explained that Shanghai's cruise liner business began developing in July 2006 when the first cruise ship sailed from Shanghai as a home port and now it accounts for more than 60 percent of China's cruising market.

While the business can mean a lot to Shanghai's and China's economy, ordinary people are seeing these large beautiful ships as a new way of tourism. Cruising has become popular throughout the West and more and more cruise ships are including Shanghai in their itineraries. As well more cruises are being designed for Chinese using Shanghai as the base port.

The Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal is one of the two major cruise terminals in Shanghai. Photo: CFP

Different and excellent

On Saturday afternoon, Mr Wang returned to Shanghai after a six-day cruise to Japan and Korea. The 74-year-old retired professor from Tongji University had often flown to other countries but he found the international cruise experience "different and excellent."

Wang told the Global Times he and seven friends had booked the trip with a travel agency and each paid 4,800 yuan ($772). Their ship was the Costa Cruise Lines' Atlantica, an ornate Italian-styled vessel with marble and fine glass settings, with floors named after the Italian film director Federico Fellini's movies. "The ship had nine floors and our cabins were on the fourth floor and had ocean views. The rooms and the views were superb," Wang said.

"The Atlantica is huge and accommodates about 2,500 people and there are a lot of entertainment options. We could swim, take a spa, play cards, see movies or watch operas. Compared to flying or travelling by train this was much more comfortable and relaxing."

Costa Cruise Lines claims on the front page of its brochures that their cruise ships are like "palaces on the ocean." This palace took Wang and his friends to Yokohama in Japan and Busan, Seoul and Jeju Island in South Korea.

"The ship would stop at a port in the morning and we could spend all day there and then at night, while we slept, it took us to the next place," Wang said.

Liu Simin is a contributing research fellow at the Tourism Research Center with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and said the big advantage of cruise shipping was that it didn't matter whether the ship was travelling on the ocean or berthing at a port, the passengers can enjoy themselves all the time. "A cruise liner is not just a mode of transport, it is a destination in itself."

Liu said that in the West the big consumers of cruise ship travel were retired and older people. "Young people regard travelling as a way to see the world and they prefer to go to several different tourist attractions. On cruise ships there are long periods at sea and there is no sense of urgency so this is more attractive for older people who have spare time and want to relax."

While the concept of cruise ship travel is comparatively recent in China, now the ships are marketing themselves for people of different ages. Many Chinese now want to try something new and young couples and families are the big consumers for cruises here, not the elderly.

Xu Jie is a product manager with ctrip.com, a Chinese travel service website, and explained that while cruise companies had their own sales channels they worked mainly with travel agencies. The agencies helped fill the ships with passengers and at the same time arranged discounts for tourists. Because most of the cruises involved international travel, the travel agencies helped passengers organize passports and visas.

Diverse entertainment

"Costa, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Mediterranean Shipping Company are some of the best known cruise lines," she said. She said the different ships offered different features and usually the larger ships were more interesting.

"Because they have such diverse entertainments, passengers can play and eat anytime and anywhere, and even on a trip lasting several days they may not be able to try everything on board."

Taking a cruise has become affordable for ordinary Chinese people. Prices for a cruise from Shanghai start at about 5,000 yuan a head. With office workers in the city earning an average 7,112 yuan a month, a cruise looks increasingly attractive given that the fare includes accommodation and food for the entire trip.

There are variations in the prices for passengers depending on the level of accommodation they seek, and people who want luxury suites with views pay more.

Cheng Juehao of the Cruise Economy Institute believes there are true luxury cruise liners as well as popular, less expensive ships. "But most cruise liners are not the same as five-star hotels - most would be the equivalent of three- or four- star hotels."

Leisure cruising began in the early 19th century with ships from Britain offering passengers journeys to the Iberian Peninsula and later transatlantic liners flourished.

Cruising has been growing in popularity in Asia in recent years and Cheng said this was because the American market was saturated, Europe was still recovering from the financial crisis and Asia was showing strength and potential. "The international cruise companies are searching for new markets."

But these giant ships make special demands on ports and the development of suitable ports is crucial to the development of the business.

The first international cruise ship came to China in the 1980s but after the shipping line Costa began operating using Shanghai as the base port in 2006, the cruise business began to flourish and the city built its two international cruise ship terminals.

At first, the international cruise companies were cautious, having little knowledge of the Chinese market or potential, and only sent some of their smaller vessels to China.

International cruise ship ports take years to plan and develop and the first specialized cruise liner terminal in Shanghai, the Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal near the north Bund, was designed to cater for small- and medium- sized ships under 70,000 tons.

Now the Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal in Baoshan district is in service and can accommodate the largest passenger liners operating in the world today.

Cheng said that in the world travel market, cruising only accounted for 1 percent of the share - it was highly dependent on weather and other conditions. Winter was usually the off-season for cruise liners and fuel costs were constantly increasing.

 "A cruise ship port costs a lot of money but, because it means thousands of visitors will come to the city through it, the investment is worth it," tourism researcher Liu noted.

A cruise ship docks at the Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal. Photo: Wang Zhefeng/GT

Building plans

Wang Hong is the Party secretary of Shanghai's Baoshan district, and in a radio interview in March said that a third of the cruise passengers from China set out from the Wusongkou terminal and the local economy had become dependent on the business. To add to the attraction of the port, some large shopping malls and five-star hotels will be built near Wusongkou.

There is competition for Shanghai in the cruise shipping business. Although along the coastline of China there are many port cities, such as Tianjin Municipality, Qingdao in Shandong Province, Dalian in Liaoning Province, Xiamen in Fujian Province and Sanya in Hainan Province which offer cruise ship ports, Cheng believe Shanghai has many advantages.

Largest capacity

"Shanghai has the biggest economy. It has the largest capacity. It is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River and in the middle of China's coast, it can arrange shipping routes in the fan-shaped area that serves Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian destinations - most other countries can only cater for one or two regions," Cheng said.

Liu said as Shanghai was one of the most famous cities in China and the largest city in East Asia it would attract foreign visitors who only had a short period of time to spend here - just as Chinese tourists would probably elect to see New York if they took a cruise to the US.

Although Shanghai's cruise industry is developing quickly, Liu does not think it can yet match Hong Kong or Singapore. "For some, Shanghai's geographical location is better than these two cities, but these cities have a lot of experience and Shanghai is still in the starting phase."

Currently, almost all of the international cruise ships visiting China are owned by Italian or American companies.

Hainan's HNA Tourism bought a liner some years ago and Shandong's Bohai Ferry bought a liner this year, but both are smaller ships each carrying about 1,500 passengers.

"These ships are very expensive and China does not yet have experience in operating a large cruise ship so we are learning from the smaller vessels," Cheng said, adding that in three to five years, Shanghai could have its own international cruise liner.



Posted in: Metro Shanghai

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