$740M Shanghai cruise ship park

A Shanghai district government plans to spend about five billion yuan ($739.97 million) to develop a cruise ship industrial park to house foreign firms that it hopes will help build China’s first luxury passenger vessels, a local official said.

China’s government has earmarked cruise shipbuilding as a major objective in its “Made in China 2025” programme to upgrade its manufacturing and support jobs at its shipyards, as domestic demand for cruise trips increases 30 per cent a year. Firms who set up shop in the new zone could expect financing support from banks and recently established government funds, Lei Shuguang, director on the administrative committee of Shanghai Baoshan Industrial Zone, told on Wednesday.