Large cruise vessel building seen as milestone

China has built enormous cargo vessels among other types of oceangoing ships. But if there were one area in which it had not yet made its mark, it would be large cruise ships. That is about to change.

The country's first domestically built large cruise ship, produced by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd, is nearing its delivery date.

Work on the new ship is continuing with the finishing of the interior spaces and system debugging. More than 91 percent of the total construction work had been completed on the 135,500-gross-ton Vista-class vessel as of Feb 10, according to Chen Gang, general manager of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, who is also the chief designer of the shipyard's large cruise ship project.