Reporter Xu miaomiao

CCS boosts the overall development of China's cruise industry

Reporter Xu miaomiao

On October 20, 2017, CCS signed a cooperation memorandum with China Travel Service(Hong Kong) Cruise Investment Co., Ltd.(CTS) in Beijing. According to the memorandum of cooperation, CCS will fully provide technical support and inspection services for CTS in design and construction of new cruise ships, purchase of cruise and the operation of shipping line, thus promoting CTSC to become one of the international cruise tourism giants as soon as possible.

Currently, the Chinese industry is actively fostering a local cruise industry chain, while CCS has played an active role in providing technical support and guarantee in cruise design and construction by researching on relevant core technologies and establishing rules for cruise ships that meet the needs of Chinese culture and tourists. On October 11, 2016, CCS officially released Rules for Cruise Ships and CCS Guidelines for Inspection of Cruise Air-Conditioner Systems at the same time.

CTS signed the memorandum with CCS not only because that CTS values the CCS IACS membership and its status as the only authorized specialized institution by the Chinese government to engage in ship classification inspection business and its intensive participation in the formulation of national industrial policies and the development of relevant state-level scientific research projects, it values more the rich experience that CCS has obtained in cruise technical services, plan approval and inspection. According to Hao Xiangdong, director of CTS Marketing Group, CCS had assisted CTS in the pre-shipment survey of the acquisition of cruise ships and gave strong support in the design, plan approval and modi fi cation of the “Dream of Nanhai”. CTS believe that the memorandum will further deepen cooperation with CCS and give full play to their respective advantages.

CTS is typical among companies which have cooperation with CCS. With the development of the cruise industry in China, a number of ship owners or shipyards have decided on cruise operation project and CCS will provide more technical support for these Chinese enterprises.At present, for domestic and foreign enterprises, CCS is providing diverse technical support and services which include review of scienti fi c research projects, new technology development, pre-ship research, ship design approval, personnel training, equipment type selection,and quality control in construction and operation. These services cover a variety of ship types including ocean liners of 135,000 tons, 70,000 tons, and 50,000 tons,coastal cruise of 70,000 tons and 30,000 tons, large Yangtze River Cruise and so on. At the same time, CCS takes full advantage of its network and wide coverage,and provides better services for the Chinese cruise industry through joining hands with overseas cruise liner companies, design companies, shipyards and other classification societies. Up to now, CSS has cooperated with many well-known overseas enterprises, such as Genting Hong Kong Group, NSD Company of Germany,Deltamarin Company of Finland, PFJ Company of the United Kingdom, LR and RINA.

In the future, along with the surge of global green wave, alternative clean fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) will become the main bunker fuel. This has been proved by Carnival Group which has ordered three LNG power cruises. The continuous development of ship intelligence technology will provide unlimited possibilities for travelers' sense of security and pleasure during the journey. At the same time, with the surging demand for cruise travel, the continuous growth of cruise fl eets and the stricter rules and new destinations,the industry will surely face a series of new challenges and opportunities.

In this context, to further meet the demand of cruise liners, CCS will continue to increase its investment in rules, research and technology, and build a high quality,skillful, and efficient service team for cruise ship operation survey. As far as we know, in order to facilitate the cultivation of echelon of surveyors for the cruise survey, CCS, on one hand, has selected experienced surveyors who have quali fi cation of survey of passenger ships engaged in international navigation and years of experience of real-ship survey and are competent in English, communication, understanding of conventions and rules, strong summary ability in writing to form the professional service team; on the other hand, CCS has held several trainings on cruise operation survey and organized professional, multi-model, systematic and comprehensive training projects according to the difference between cruise and ordinary passenger ships. To facilitate the routine operation of cruise ships,CCS does its best to respond promptly to ship owner’s application for survey when ship is at the home port or under repair or maintenance, and if possible, even can do survey during ship operation according to the needs of ship owners.