The world’s largest cruise ship, costing £1.2billion, will be sold for scrap before it sails
The world’s largest cruise ship is set to be sold for scrap before it even sets sail after owners went bankrupt while building the £1.2billion ship
- Global Dream II was built by the German-Hong Kong shipbuilding company MV Werften
- It went bankrupt at the beginning of the year just before the end of the works and could not find a buyer
- The gigantic 1,122ft ocean liner including a water park and cinema is now set to be scrapped to raise funds
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The world’s largest cruise ship, which could carry 9,000 passengers and cost £1.2billion to build, is set to be scrapped before it even sets sail.
Global Dream II was built by German-Hong Kong shipbuilder MV Werften and was nearing completion when the company went bankrupt earlier this year.
Since then, no buyer has been found and the huge 20-deck ship is now on the verge of being sold for scrap.
The world’s largest cruise ship, which could carry 9,000 passengers and cost £1.2billion to build, is set to be scrapped before it has ever set sail
The 1,122ft Global Dream II features a cinema and outdoor water park, and is said to have the largest passenger capacity of any cruise ship in the world
Global Dream II was built by German-Hong Kong shipbuilder MV Werften and was nearing completion when the company went bankrupt
The planned liner was to have a huge water park on deck where guests could go wild on slides while out on the ocean
Its sister line, Global Dream, is also on the market but is not yet expected to be phased out.
The 1,122ft Global Dream II includes a cinema and an outdoor water park, and is said to have the largest passenger capacity of any cruise ship in the world.
The largest ship in terms of size is the Oasis-class Wonder of the Seas owned and operated by Royal Caribbean International, measuring 1,188 feet, with a capacity of 6,988 passengers.
Despite the huge construction expenditure, the ship is still £200 million short of its budget.
Global Dream and Global Dream II are stored in a German shipyard in Wismar.
No buyer has been found and the huge 20-deck ship is now ready to be sold for scrap
A towing unit sails the cruise liner’s huge center ship in Wismar in 2019
Despite the enormous construction expenditure of the gigantic project, the ship is still £200million off its budget
The pandemic has hit the global travel industry, including cruise lines and led to production stoppages at shipyards that build cruise ships
The yard was sold to Thyssenkrupp’s naval unit to build military vessels, meaning the two gigantic cruise ships must be retired by the end of 2023.
While Global Dream II is structurally sound, passenger amenities and facilities need to be completed.
There is still a glimmer of hope that a buyer can be found, with Stena potentially hoping to buy her for the Chinese cruise market.
Industry experts TradeWinds said: “The Global Dream would have no problem finding a buyer in a strong cruise market.
CEO of shipbuilder MV Werften Carsten Haake stands in front of the nearly completed cruise ship earlier this year
There is still a glimmer of hope that a buyer can be found, with Stena potentially hoping to buy her for the Chinese cruise market.
MV Werften currently has around 2,000 workers in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in northern Germany.
“Faced with the tight deadline to get the Global Dream out of her construction dock by the end of 2023, recycling the vessel in Turkey is a last resort that Morgen hopes to avoid.”
Genting, led by Malaysian tycoon Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, bought MV Werften in 2016.
The pandemic has hit the global travel industry, including cruise lines, and led to production stoppages at shipyards that build cruise ships.
MV Werften currently has around 2,000 workers in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in northern Germany.
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