Giving added dimension to China’s maritime industrial ascendancy, the first domestically-built and-owned, large-scale cruise vessel made her service debut this year.
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Source: CSSC Group
A blend of East and West, the Adora Magic City opens a new chapter for both Chinese shipbuilding and shipowning CSSC Group
Tailored to the Chinese market and deployed on north-east Asian itineraries out of Chinese ports, the 135,500gt Adora Magic City is arranged with 2,125 passenger cabins for a guest complement of between 4,250 and 5,246.
Her career began with a seven-day voyage out of the new Wusongku International Cruise Liner Terminal in Shanghai’s Baoshan district, entailing calls in Japan and South Korea.
Constructed by the CSSC Group enterprise Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding using a design based on the Vista-class generation from Fincantieri, the 324m Adora Magic City is operated by Adora Cruises of Hong Kong, originally established as CSSC Carnival Cruise Shipping.
The engineering side to the project is founded on thoroughly-proven diesel-electric power and propulsion technology using multiple medium-speed engine-driven gensets. While drawing on foreign expertise by way of joint ventures with the Carnival Group of the USA and Italian international shipbuilder Fincantieri, the realisation of the newbuild is testament to Chinese industrial will and capability for rapid assimilation of know-how.
Adora Magic City constitutes a home-grown response to robust market demand, China being one of the largest sources of cruise passengers globally and whose increasingly affluent society is keen to endorse the domestic ‘product’, catering to national tastes and styles. The prospective long-term economic impact of the newbuild scheme, which includes a near-sistership currently taking form and due next year, is all the greater for positioning Shanghai Waigaoqiao among a world elite in a complex, capital-intensive sphere of shipbuilding hitherto the province of yards in Italy, France, Germany and Finland.
The two-vessel contract worth around $1.5bn was awarded in November 2018 by Adora’s antecedent CSSC Carnival, a majority Chinese-owned joint undertaking of the Carnival organisation, China State Shipbuilding Corporation(CSSC), and China Investment Corporation.
A further collaborative venture set up by Fincantieri and CSSC Cruise Technology Development Company(CCTD) granted a technology licence for the ship model platform and the provision of technical services to Shanghai Waigaoqiao throughout the build process. This has embraced project management, supply chain management and procurement of key shipboard systems and components.
Adora Magic City is powered by five diesel generators delivered by ABB Marine and comprising two sets based on the AMG 1600UT14 LSE model and three of the AMG 1600QM14 LSE type, all of 11,000V rated voltage.
The gensets formed part of a comprehensive package also encompassing two XO 2100-type Azipod propulsors, main switchboards, distribution transformers and propulsion controls. The digital system includes remote diagnostic capabilities, enabling connectivity to ABB Ability operation centres. Each propulsion pod’s integral electric motor drives a fixed-pitch propeller that can be rotated through 360 degrees around its vertical axis.
The main machinery is housed in two engine rooms, in keeping with redundancy criteria. The Vista-class template as used in tonnage from Fincantieri’s Monfalcone and Marghera yards employed aggregates driven by MAN 48/60CR-series diesels in two models for a combined, maximum output of 62,400kW.
Wartsila ANCS provided Adora Magic City with a suite of solutions including the NACOS Platinum Valmet automation and control system, valve controls, low location lighting, navigation system, and engine and bridge control room consoles. In addition, the Wartsila Group has supplied the bow thruster and dynamic trim systems.
While the Chinese supply chain for such vessels at the top end of the value-added range can be expected to be progressively expanded, European-sourced equipment in the Adora ship has also featured 20 Fassmer lifeboats, each with capacity for 314 persons, and two Viking marine evacuation systems featuring 153-person liferafts. A high-pressure water mist system consisting of more than 11,000 sprinklers affords fixed firefighting coverage throughout the passenger and crew cabins, the public spaces and engine compartments.
The Adora Magic City construction programme has been described as a strong learning curve for Shanghai Waigaoqiao, with Fincantieri acting as technical consultant. First steel was cut in 2019 and the hull was floated in December 2021, the timespan reflecting not only the challenges imposed by the Covid pandemic but also the decision to pursue a deliberately methodical pace of production.
Work on the second ship was implemented in August 2022, and delivery is set for 2025. This second-of-class is understood to involve a slightly enlarged design, some 17m longer, incorporating certain changes in interior layout and facilities.
Adora Magic City was preceded into service under the Adora Cruises banner by the former Costa Mediterranea, renamed the Mediterranea. Completed by the formerly Kvaerner Masa-owned Turku yard in Finland(now Meyer Turku) 21 years ago, the subsequently refurbished vessel is 239m in length overall and of 85,620gt, accommodating up to 2,680 passengers on short cruises out of Tianjin, in northern China.
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Adora Magic City
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