China can build giant ships! Why do we only have domestically produced large cruise ships now?, Millennium ago cruise ship | modern | domestic

Recently, China's first domestically produced large cruise ship, the Aida Modu, was officially docked in Shanghai, and this modern shipbuilding industry's "crown jewel" has been captured by China. So, do you know the history of cruise ship development? What is special about modern cruise ships compared to ancient ships? Why is the manufacturing difficulty so high? What impact will the development of the cruise industry bring to China? The "ancestor" of cruise ships in China is a type of ship, and Chinese wheel boats are usually considered the "ancestor" of ships. Regarding wheel boats, the "Zizhi Tongjian" states that in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, someone rode a wheel boat from the Yellow River "upstream of the Wei River, and there were no boatmen outside the ship. There were no boats or boats in the northern land, so everyone was amazed and thought they were divine." This kind of "thousand mile boat that does not transport itself due to feng shui or machinery" is called a wheel boat. The name "ship" originated from the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, a craftsman named Li Gao invented the "paddle wheel ship". By installing paddle wheels with paddles on the side or stern of the ship, the shaft of the paddle wheel was manually stepped on, causing the paddles on the shaft to move the ship forward, further enhancing the power system of the ship. According to the "Biography of Li Gao" in the Old Book of Tang, "carrying two wheels to dance, stirring up wind and waves, and falling ill like hanging a sail." Therefore, the original "steamship" did indeed have "wheels". This type of ship is also known as a "light ship" or "steamship" because the lower half of the paddle wheel is submerged in water and the upper half is exposed to the water, which is different from wooden boats that are manually rowed or wind driven sailboats.

"Wheel Boat" by Mao Yuanyi of the Ming Dynasty in his book "Wubei Zhi"

The "chariots and ships" that emerged in the Song Dynasty were also a type of ship. In the "Biography of Yue Fei" in the "History of Song Dynasty," there is a passage that describes "vehicles and ships" as follows: "Fang floats in the lake with wheels to stimulate the water, and his movements are like flying.". During the Southern Song Dynasty, the renowned shipbuilding craftsman Gao Xuan created more than ten types of vehicles and ships, with a maximum of 24 wheels. At that time, there were also large cars and ships that were three stories high and could accommodate thousands of people. However, the power source of vehicles and ships is still human labor, making it impossible to conduct long-distance voyages. In the early 19th century, the problem of ship energy and power was only solved after the emergence of steam engines. However, the earliest steam ships were still driven by open wheels. It was not until the British invented the propeller propulsion system that the power efficiency of ships was further improved, and after that, the manufacturing and application of ships rapidly developed.

The early "tail wheel paddle steamer".

In 1822, the Eastern Shipping Company of the European Peninsula opened the world's first cruise route, departing from England to the Iberian Peninsula. Subsequently, the company opened up a sea mail transportation business and its business scope continued to expand, hence the name "cruise ship". In 1844, the P&O company first introduced the concept of "manned cruise ships" and developed multiple manned routes. Since then, taking cruise ships for ocean voyages has gradually become a daily routine. Subsequently, cruise travel developed rapidly, and cruise ships began to become more comfortable and luxurious. Large luxury cruise ships like the Titanic received widespread attention worldwide. Until the 1960s, the development of the civil aviation industry changed the way people traveled long distances. Traditional cruise ships lost their competitiveness, and cruise ships gradually evolved into modern ships for leisure vacation, providing entertainment and leisure for people. How difficult it is to pick the "pearl" nowadays, with the development of the times, leisure and entertainment facilities such as restaurants, theaters, libraries, swimming pools, sports venues, etc. have almost become standard equipment for cruise ships. These functions involve different professional fields, and their integration with shipbuilding has become a complex system engineering. As cruise ships transition from being "means of transportation" to "sea resorts", the shipbuilding model also undergoes changes, with stricter regulations and standards in terms of comfort, safety, reliability, and environmental protection. The difficulty of design and construction has also increased.

Taking the first domestically produced large cruise ship in China, the "Aida Modu", as an example, this large cruise ship has a total of 25 million optical components, a total cable layout length of 4300 kilometers, and a variety of internal systems and complex interactions, with special requirements in terms of structure and other aspects. Firstly, cruise ships provide services directly to people, and their requirements for navigation safety and comfort are far higher than other types of ships. In addition to safe round-trip, each system also has extremely high standards of security in design, operation, and maintenance. Secondly, the internal components and systems of cruise ships have a very high level of refinement and high technological content. Generally speaking, a car has around 10000 parts, a Boeing 747 has five to six million, and the Aida Modu has 25 million. This not only requires a strong supporting system, but also places high demands on engineering management during the construction process. Finally, unlike general ships, cruise ships also have special requirements in terms of structural weight control, fire protection design, reducing vibration and noise, and improving comfort. The interior decoration of cruise ships also needs to revolve around maritime entertainment and leisure services, with a huge amount of engineering. According to the functional attributes of the region, the entire ship needs to be divided into 8 major categories, 37 subcategories, and more than 5800 sub areas for assembly. In fact, there are very few countries in the world that can build large cruise ships. Until the beginning of the 21st century, the construction of large cruise ships was still monopolized by four European countries, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Cruise shipbuilding companies in these four countries alone accounted for over 90% of global orders. Therefore, the research and manufacturing of domestically produced large cruise ships this time further demonstrates the leap in the hard power of China's shipbuilding industry. The Promising Future: Since 1980, the global cruise tourism market has been steadily growing, maintaining an annual growth rate of around 7% from 2008 to 2018. The cruise industry has become the most rapidly developing industry in modern tourism, regarded as a "golden industry floating on the golden waterway.".

In recent years, with the transfer of the cruise market from Europe and America to Asia, China's cruise industry has rapidly risen and gradually grown into a new economic growth point. According to the research report "The Economic Contribution of Cruise Lines to China", it is predicted that by 2035, the overall economic contribution of cruise ships to China is expected to reach nearly 550 billion yuan. Previously, China was basically at the end of the cruise economy chain, occupying only the consumer segment, and this model was also known as the "transit economy". Nowadays, with the release of domestically produced large cruise ships, guided by the final assembly and construction of cruise ships, it will bring a 1:14 driving effect to related industries such as ship repair, home port, retail, hotels, and entertainment. In addition, the cruise industry is of great significance in improving the level of modern service industry and promoting the development of marine economy. Some scholars believe that with the increase of per capita disposable income in China, outbound cruise tourism will become people's future choice. According to data from 2020, if around 8% of Chinese tourists choose cruise tourism, the number of Chinese cruise tourists is basically equivalent to a European market. In the development of cruise tourism, China also has an advantage in having numerous excellent port cities. Most coastal port cities in our country have developed transportation facilities, convenient travel, and often have abundant tourism resources, which can attract domestic and foreign tourists. Cruise tourism, as one of the convenient choices for foreign tourists entering the country, will undoubtedly have a scale driving effect. However, the cruise industry is still an emerging industry in China, and its future development still requires careful planning. Zhang Rui, a director of the China Marketing Association, believes that after achieving independent research and construction of large-scale cruise ships in China, we also need to strengthen the awareness of domestic tourists towards cruise tourism, enhance the interaction between cruise tourism and land tourism, strengthen the dissemination of cruise culture, and improve the consumer experience of tourists. In the downstream of the industry, in addition to optimizing port infrastructure and service functions, it is also necessary to strengthen the construction of supporting facilities for cruise destinations, establish industry service standards that are coordinated with cruise tourism, improve the three-dimensional transportation network, and connect water tourism with land tourism.