China's first domestic large cruise ship passes sea trial

China's first domestically-built large cruise ship, the Adora Magic City, has just completed its first sea trial and has returned to its home port of Shanghai, according to the China State Shipbuilding Corp, the world's largest shipbuilder.

The sea trial started on July 17 when the massive ship set sail from Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, a CSSC subsidiary and the vessel's construction contractor. It returned to the shipyard on Monday evening.

During the eight-day trial, engineers tested 60 functions, verifying the performance of the ship's systems, including power, propulsion and control, CSSC said in a news release on Tuesday, adding that engineers also checked the vessel's convenience and comfort for passengers.

Engineers will continue to fine-tune the Adora Magic City and the interior decoration will be finished. The ship's second sea trial is scheduled to take place before October.

If everything goes according to plan, the floating luxury hotel will be delivered to its user at the end of this year, according to Chen Gang, general manager of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and chief designer of the Adora.

China had been eager to build its own large cruise ships, icons of shipbuilding power, for a number of years but has been hampered by its lack of design and construction expertise.

In November 2018, CSSC signed a cooperation agreement for the design and construction of two 135,500-metric-ton Vista-class cruise ships with Carnival Corp and Fincantieri.

Carnival, a British-American cruise operator, is the world's largest leisure travel company, while Fincantieri, an Italian company, is one of the world's largest cruise ship makers.

According to the agreement, the vessels are being built to suit the requirements of the Chinese market and Chinese tourists. The three parties also have an option to build a further four vessels of the same type.

Construction of the first cruise ship started at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in October 2019.