Italy's Fincantieri on Monday signed an agreement with Shanghai’s Boashan district government to create a cruise hub as part of the company's plans to develop China's burgeoning local cruise market, Fincantieri said in a statement.
The hub will act as an industrial supplier basin for the construction of the first ever cruise ships made in China for the local market: two 133,500gt ships at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co shipyard, as part of a deal inked in February last year between Fincantieri, China State Shipbuilding Corporation and American-British cruise company Carnival Corporation & plc. An MoU was signed in 2017
The first delivery of the Chinese-built cruise liners is expected in 2023. .
Monday's cruise hub accord was inked in the presence of Italy’s deputy premier, industry and labour minister Luigi Di Maio, the chairman of state lender Cassa depositi e prestiti Massimo Tononi, Fincantieri’s chief executive Giuseppe Bono and the district mayor of Baoshan, Fan Shaojun.
Baoshan district "will provide financing, tax commercial and administrative benefits, land for necessary development and other resources, in the light of a possible establishment of foreign companies, introduced by the partners," said the Fincantieri statement.
Fincantieri will promote the hub in its network and in the industry as a whole, the statement added.
