MIAMI, Oct. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival
Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's
largest cruise company, today announced it has signed a memorandum
of understanding (MOU) with the China State Shipbuilding
Corporation (CSSC) to explore the possibility of a joint venture
aimed at accelerating the development and growth of the Chinese
cruise industry, expected to be one of the largest cruise markets
in the world with 4.5 million passengers by 2020, according to the
Chinese Ministry of Transport (MOT).
Becoming official at a signing ceremony today at the Ninth China
Cruise Shipping and International Cruise Expo in Tianjin, the MOU outlines the framework for
exploration of a partnership between Carnival Corporation and the
CSSC that includes the possibility of forming a shipbuilding joint
venture that could become a three-way arrangement involving
Fincantieri of Italy, the world's
largest cruise ship building company, in support of the Chinese
government's plans to grow the cruising industry in China and meet escalating demand for cruises
from Chinese travelers.
As part of the possible shipbuilding joint venture, Carnival
Corporation would work closely with CSSC and Fincantieri to help
define the first-ever, world-class cruise ship built in
China. Carnival Corporation, the
world's leading cruise operator, has been involved in building
modern cruise ships that exceed guest expectations more than any
entity in the world. Under the joint venture concept, Carnival
Corporation would provide its ship design and shipbuilding
expertise to create the vision, definition and overall
specifications for the China-built
cruise ship.
"This is really a breakthrough day for all of us at Carnival, as
well as our friends at the CSSC and all Chinese travelers who are
increasingly turning to cruises for their vacation experiences,"
said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival
Corporation. "This landmark agreement enables us to work closely
with our partners at the CSSC to fully explore the possibility of
forming a joint venture to further develop China into a leading cruise market, supporting
local economic development and bringing vacation enjoyment to
millions. We look forward to getting to work and lending the
expertise of many talented people across Carnival Corporation."
In the past year, the Chinese Ministry of Transport has
expressed its strong desire to transform China into a leading global cruise market,
including investments in infrastructure and developing a strong
domestic cruise presence to help spur growth in cruising as a key
component of the expanding tourism industry in China.
The MOT projects China to be
the second largest global cruise market after the U.S. in the next
several years based on economic growth, increased spending power of
Chinese consumers and growing demand for cruise vacations in
China. Partnerships like the
relationship being fully explored between CSSC and Carnival support
the MOT's pro-growth cruise policies designed to spur new economic
development from tourism in China.
Carnival Corporation Continues to Expand its Leading Market
Presence in China in 2015
Carnival Corporation just recently announced its plans for
immediate capacity growth in China
in 2015 to meet growing demand. With Costa Cruises adding the Costa
Serena to its fleet in China in
April of next year, Carnival Corporation will be the first global
cruise company with four ships homeported in China, growing the company's leading market
presence by 140 percent from 2013 – 2015. Costa Serena joins Costa
Atlantica, Costa Victoria and Sapphire Princess already homeported
in China.
With its Costa and Princess brands homeporting ships in
China, Carnival Corporation offers
Chinese travelers a diversified cruising product with two brands
targeting two different segments of travelers. Having multiple
brands enables Carnival to meet and exceed guest expectations on
the cruises it operates in China
by closely matching passenger tastes with the right brand
experience. In total, Carnival will have 220 port calls from five
brands in China in 2014, which is
15 percent of the company's total port calls in all of Asia – a region where Carnival doubled its
market share over the past two years.
Reflecting the company's belief and commitment in the growth
potential of the Chinese cruise market, Carnival Corporation
recently announced its Global Chief Operations Officer Alan Buckelew is relocating to China to oversee Carnival's growing operations
in the country while retaining his overall global responsibilities
for the corporation. This is the first move of its kind by a major
publicly traded Global 500 corporation not headquartered in
China.
The MOU also includes the exploration of other possible joint
venture opportunities with CSSC including the potential to form a
domestic cruise company, port development, talent development and
training as well as supply chain and logistics.
About Carnival Corporation
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise
company in the world, with a portfolio of cruise brands
in North
America, Europe, Australia and Asia, comprised
of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess
Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises,
Cunard, Ibero Cruises, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O
Cruises (UK).
Together, these brands operate 101 ships totaling 212,000 lower
berths with eight new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2014
and 2017. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates
Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies
in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both
the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival
Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be
included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100
indices. Additional information can be found
on www.carnival.com, www.hollandamerica.com,
www.princess.com, www.seabourn.com, www.aida.de, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com,
www.iberocruceros.com, www.pocruises.com.au and www.pocruises.com.
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc