China's first homegrown large cruise ship starts maiden commercial voyage

China's first domestically-built large cruise ship, the Adora Magic City, left a port in Shanghai on Monday afternoon for its commercial maiden voyage, opening up a new chapter for the country's shipbuilding and cruise industries.

Carrying more than 3,000 passengers, the ship set off from the Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal and is expected to reach Northeast Asian tourist destinations, including Japan and the Republic of Korea, before returning on Sunday.

The Adora Magic City is 323.6 meters in length, has a gross weight of 135,500 tonnes and can accommodate up to 5,246 passengers across a total of 2,125 guest rooms, according to its builder, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd (SWS).

It has 16 floors and a total of 40,000 square meters of public living and recreational space.

The building of large cruise ships like the Adora Magic City marked a leap in China's overall shipbuilding capacity, said Chen Gang, general manager of the SWS.

After eight years of scientific research and five years of design and construction, the ship was delivered in November.