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Chao News Client Writer Shen Lin Photography Wei Zhiyang
On the afternoon of December 15th, the first domestically produced large cruise ship "Aida Modu" slowly left the dock of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipyard and sailed to the sea.
It will head to Shanghai's Wusongkou International Cruise Home Port and will make its maiden commercial voyage here on New Year's Day. On the deck, the crew waved their hands, and on both sides of the ramp of the cruise ship, banners with the slogan "Chinese's cruise ship dream set sail from here" waved under the gust of sea breeze.
Large cruise ships are known as the "pearls" in the crown of the shipbuilding industry, demonstrating a country's comprehensive scientific and technological level and manufacturing strength. With the cruise ship "leaving the factory", it means that after eight years of scientific research and five years of design and construction, China has broken the European monopoly and become the fifth country in the world with the ability to build large cruise ships.
Recently, the reporter walked into the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipyard, the first domestic large-scale cruise ship manufacturer, to explore the story behind the "pearl".
The first large-scale cruise ship made in China "Aida Modu"
An inclusive "maritime mobile city"
When you first see the "Aida Modu", it is difficult not to feel small.
This 323.6-meter-long, 77.2-meter-high white giant ship, wearing the "Dunhuang Flying Ribbon", compared with the 1,000-ton cargo ship next to it, is especially like a behemoth. It is three times the size of the "Titanic" and has facilities equivalent to five medium-sized five-star hotels on land.
The moment the door was closed, the chill caused by the howling sea breeze disappeared in an instant. The reporter seems to be in a quiet, warm and magnificent "sea city".
The ship has 20 decks, 2,125 guest rooms, and can carry 5,246 passengers, as well as more than 1,000 crew members. Wu Xiaoyuan told reporters that in order to allow more and more passengers to experience domestic large cruise ships, the positioning of "Aida Modu" at the beginning of its construction was not the concept of luxury cruises, but a more inclusive large-scale cruise ship.
Judging whether a cruise ship is a large cruise ship or a luxury cruise ship is roughly based on the comprehensive consideration of passenger space ratio, crew to passenger ratio, price, entertainment facilities, etc. Two of the most critical factors are the passenger-to-space ratio and the crew-to-passenger ratio.
The higher the value of the general space ratio, the more spacious and comfortable the cruise ship is, and the more entertainment and leisure venues there are. The most prominent feature of international luxury cruise ships is the high ratio of space, and the "Aida Modu" is considered to be of the medium level; the crew-to-passenger ratio, as the name suggests, the closer the crew is to the number of passengers, the more luxurious the ship is. The industry's luxury cruise ships can be close to 1:1, and the service ratio of "Aida Modu" is about 1:5. Correspondingly, the ferry ticket will be at least half cheaper.
"A large cruise ship is the equivalent of a luxury hotel and integrated theme park floating on the sea. Wu Xiaoyuan said that the biggest difference with large ships such as cargo ships and aircraft carriers is that there is a large amount of technology behind the unity of functionality, comfort, aesthetics and safety at the same time.
The Palace Restaurant (the largest cafeteria, located in the 3A/4A) stern area). Photo by Chao News reporter Wei Zhiyang
The 16-storey, 40,000-square-metre living and entertainment public area is equipped with leisure facilities such as a theater, duty-free shops, specialty restaurants, art corridors and water parks. There are 9 restaurants alone, the largest of which spans two decks and is connected by a white and gold spiral staircase, which can accommodate more than 1,500 people at the same time.
"Move the luxury hotel to the ship. This is Wu Xiaoyuan's idea, but the function of a "luxury hotel" and the seaworthiness of a cruise ship are often contradictory.
"The multi-storey restaurant and theater are all large space structural cavities in the hull, which actually reduces the structural strength of the hull. Wu Xiaoyuan said that this needs to be "carved" in the structural design to enhance the safety of the hull, "This is much more difficult than the design of the warship, after all, the battleship does not need to consider the beauty and comfort, just by increasing the 'skeleton'." ”
To maintain the rich and diverse needs of nearly 7,000 people on board, it is equivalent to building a fully functional "sea city" in a limited space, which can be imagined. The water, electricity, and gas systems, which were relatively mature in the domestic shipbuilding industry, had to be overturned and rebuilt on large cruise ships.
There are also 107 systems on the cruise, such as fresh water treatment system, garbage disposal system, and air conditioning system, and the engineering volume is equivalent to 10 container ships of 20,000 containers. All of these different systems engineering pipelines have to be reasonably distributed in extremely confined spaces.
"On the ceiling, in a half-metre-high space, there are at least five different layers of pipes. On land, the same number of pipelines are typically laid out in a space 2 meters high. Wu Xiaoyuan said that at the beginning of the design, it is necessary to do a full model investigation of the pipeline and cable layout, and safety production and supervision are also extremely important in construction.
It is understood that the maiden voyage route of "Aida Modu" is "7 days and 6 nights sea - Jeju (Seogwipo) - Nagasaki - Fukuoka - Shanghai", and the minimum price per capita is 4929.25 yuan, which undoubtedly brings new competitiveness to the cruise tourism market. With this, China's cruise tourism market has entered a new era with local cruise ships.
Restaurant "Baltic" (located in the middle of the 3 A). Photo by Chao News reporter Wei Zhiyang
Mission impossible
When he first learned that a large cruise ship was going to be built, Wu Xiaoyuan was a little drummed in his heart.
Large cruise ships, known as the "crown jewel" of the shipbuilding industry, have a long design and construction cycle, high technical requirements, and extremely complex manufacturing processes. The core technology has been almost monopolized by European shipyards for more than 150 years.
"After watching the ship for two hours, the whole state was dazed, the amount of material was too huge, it was simply an impossible task. Wu Xiaoyuan still remembers the shock when the team went to a European shipyard for research eight years ago.
Some people will be curious, China can even build aircraft carriers, why can't large cruise ships?
A set of data can be seen: the whole ship is equipped with 107 systems, 55,000 equipment, including 25 million parts, which is equivalent to five times the number of C919 large aircraft and 13 times that of the "Fuxing" high-speed train, and the total cable length is 4,200 kilometers, which is equivalent to the distance from Shanghai to Lhasa. At most, hundreds of construction units and thousands of workers are working synchronously on the ship, and integrated management and organizational collaboration have exceeded the project management capabilities of China's shipbuilding in the past.
For this "zero breakthrough" in the history of Chinese shipbuilding, it is necessary for the tacklers to show the courage of "thousands of rivers and thousands of mountains are just waiting for leisure".
Strategy first. In the face of an untouched field, CSSC has chosen a more stable route - introduction, digestion, absorption and innovation. CSSC is responsible for the construction, and at the same time, it has introduced the Italian Fincantieri, a leading large-scale cruise ship builder, as a partner to provide technical support.
According to the analysis of industry insiders, as a rising star, it is a more pragmatic approach for China to seek international cooperation. In 2003 and 2012, Japan built two large cruise ships, both of which suffered heavy losses due to fires during construction, and finally announced in 2016 that it would never accept orders for large cruise ships.
Balcony room (there are 10 types of passenger cabins on large cruise ships, and the balcony room is in the picture). Photo by Chao News reporter Wei Zhiyang
Introduction, digestion, absorption and innovation, just nine words. It has condensed more than 5,000 engineers and technicians and 18 million man-hours of arduous exploration.
Li Jianing, deputy director of the Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Development Department, showed reporters a photo taken on the day the design drawings were handed over at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy. More than 150,000 copies of 2.1-ton design drawings are neatly stacked in the 20-square-meter warehouse, which is the blueprint for the construction of the first domestic large-scale cruise ship in the future.
And in fact, the design drawings are a kind of "semi-blocked" state. "We only know the results, not the why. From the perspective of business competition, we also understand that the other party certainly does not want to cultivate a competitor. Wu Xiaoyuan revealed that in the face of huge and unfamiliar design drawings, the first thing to overcome is to deconstruct them backward and digest and absorb them.
From the establishment of the project to the official start of construction, Wu Xiaoyuan and his colleagues have successively conquered more than 100 core technologies throughout the life cycle of the cruise ship, such as weight control, vibration and noise reduction, and safe return to port.
And even in some ways, it has been industry leading. The digital intelligence platform built by Chinese engineers can realize the online application of design, procurement, logistics, planning and other links, and promote information sharing and collaborative management in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. "The previous existing platform could only handle a maximum of 20,000 plans, but our self-developed digital intelligence platform can handle 200,000 plans at the same time. Wu Xiaoyuan said that the application of digitalization has greatly improved the overall efficiency and responsiveness of cruise ship construction.
No matter how long it has been, Wu Xiaoyuan will never forget that on September 12, 2023, the "Aida Modu" was completed and the trial voyage was completed, and all the verification projects met the standards. "It basically proves that the strategy, design scheme, equipment construction and other aspects we have adopted in the past few years are in line with the requirements. ”
Metropolitan Theatre (located on deck 4/5 with a capacity of nearly 900 spectators) Photo by Chao News reporter Wei Zhiyang
1 large cruise ship, driving 14 related industries
CSSC regards the first large cruise ship as the "No. 1 project", why must China build a large cruise ship?
Just like in the 50s of the last century, at the beginning of the mainland's shipbuilding industry, some people questioned that it was better to buy than to build, and it was better to rent than to buy. More than 60 years later, before China decided to build large cruise ships, there was also a voice that large cruise ships were "high-end consumer goods", not necessities, and that shipbuilding costs too much to afford.
However, practice has proved that China has now become a major shipbuilding industry along the independent route of "foreign aid" but not relying on it. In 2022, the international market share of the three indicators of shipbuilding completion, new orders and hand-held orders will remain the first in the world.
The wheel of history has come to this day, and what is in front of China is a multiple-choice question that has to be made.
Looking inward, China has come to a strategic juncture from a shipbuilding industry power to a strong country, and to climb to the middle and upper reaches of the value chain, the gap of large cruise manufacturing is bound to be filled.
In April 2013, when General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the Sanya International Cruise Port, he called for speeding up the construction of the cruise port and vigorously developing the cruise industry, and proposed to "build our own cruise ships".
In the past, the demand for international cruise markets is hot, but the existing production capacity is obviously insufficient. At present, the average annual demand for cruise ships in the world is about 20, but the production capacity of the three major shipyards in Europe is only 6, and the order to buy ships has been scheduled for 10 years.
Cantonese restaurant (one of the specialty restaurants, located in 5A). Photo by Chao News reporter Wei Zhiyang
In the field of cruise economy, the industry recognizes the driving effect of 1:14. That is, the development of 1 shipbuilding industry can drive the development of 14 related industries, including machinery manufacturing, materials, electrical automation, tourism, real estate, etc.
In Europe, the three major shipyards in Germany, Italy and France have basically formed a cruise construction ecosystem with the final assembly plant as the core, including the designer, the general contractor, the supplier and other upper and lower industrial chains, and the localization rate of the supply chain can reach more than 95%.
"This is the direction of our future development, and it is also our mission and responsibility as a chain owner. If it can drive the cruise construction industry chain to take root and sprout, it will not only reduce the construction cost, but also form an industrial radiation effect. However, Chen Gang, general manager of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and on-site commander of large-scale cruise projects, also said that the improvement of the domestic cruise industry chain is difficult to achieve overnight, after all, the current localization rate is only about 20%, and most of them are basic materials. In the context of international and domestic dual circulation, international cooperation cannot be avoided.
According to Li Yanqing, secretary-general of the China Shipbuilding Industry Association, the construction of the first cruise ship has led to the improvement and upgrading of China's cruise industry chain. Chinese enterprises have been trained in design, technology and project management. Especially as a final assembly shipyard, it has a very clear understanding of the whole process of cruise construction, and has also cultivated domestic first- and second-tier suppliers, and then through the accumulation of experience in the construction of 1-2 cruise ships, the domestic cruise industry chain can be initially formed.
Tian Yajun, deputy general manager of the company, said that he had gained a lot in the project, "I followed the foreign party and basically mastered the whole process." The process level of upstream suppliers, material manufacturers, construction parties, and workers will be greatly improved. ”
Of course, waiting for the "Aida Modu" is still the test of market operation, but this white giant ship will definitely ride the wind and waves and sail to the deep blue distance with the cruise dream of the Chinese people.
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