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The largest cruise ship of all time, in terms of capacity, is being built at ‘MV Werften’ in the German harbor towns of Wismar and Rostock. In fact, the ‘Global 1’ is ready for its keel laying this coming Tuesday.
‘Global 1’ got its name from the new class it represents: Global Class. It is the first cruise ship with a capacity of 9,500 passengers. They will be attended by a crew of 2,500, meaning up to 12,000 people will be aboard ‘Global 1’ once the giant is ready to sail the seas.
In order to transport that many people ashore, 200 buses would be needed. For flying them, 20 Airbus A380 jumbo jets would only suffice if the aircraft were configured to carry more passengers than they usually do. In short: ‘Global 1’ will be a swimming city of unimaginable proportions.
In March of 2018, the construction commenced. Back then, the CEO of Genting Hong Kong, the owner of ‘MV Werft’ shipyards, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, pushed a button which made a machine cut the first piece of steel for the giant ship. Due to its size, MV decided to involve two of its German dockyards. Wismar is the official production site though. This is where the ship will be assembled and completed.
‘Global 1’ will not just be huge, but also smart. ‘MV Werften’ says artificial intelligence will be on board. Face and speech recognition devices will make sure only booked passengers board the ship. Robots will be deployed too, so that the crew can concentrate on the most important tasks.
Anyone who thinks more Global Class ships are probably being planned is absolutely right. These cruise liners are actually being built for the Asian market, where an occupancy of up to four passengers per cabin is considered normal. ‘Global 1’ and its future sister ships will be equipped with authentic Asian restaurants, fast food places, spas, theme parks and lots of shops.
These cruise ships will have 28 large lifts each, as well as countless escalators, which will connect the public areas. ‘MV Werften’ is convinced all ships belonging to the new class will accommodate the enormous number of passengers they are being built for without problems.
In the German province of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, ‘MV Werften’ is an important employer. The number of employees has almost doubled in the past two years. A total of 2,600 people are working for the company at this stage, in Wismar, Rostock and Stralsund.
‘Global 1’ will only be the fifth-largest cruise ship on the planet, in terms of gross tonnage. The largest ship circling the seven seas right now, the ‘Symphony of the Seas’ owned by Royal Caribbean, has a gross tonnage of 228,081, while ‘Global 1’ will have 204,000. On the other hand, the ‘Symphony’ accommodates only about two thirds of the passengers ‘Global 1’ is scheduled to take to posh places around the world.
At this stage, Royal Caribbean owns the four largest ships. They are the ‘Symphony of the Seas’, the ‘Harmony of the Seas’, the ‘Allure of the Seas’ and the ‘Oasis of the Seas’. Yes, they are enormous. But soon, ‘Global 1’ passengers will be standing on deck, laughing at them.
The ‘Crystal Endeavor’ will be an elegant icebreaker. Image: ‘MV Werften’
There is one big problem all cruise ships contribute to: air pollution. Port cities all over the place, other tourist destinations and their residents are affected. The ‘Harmony of the Seas’ is in Cozumel (Mexico) right now, spreading her Diesel clouds. Her bigger sister, the ‘Symphony of the Seas’ is doing the same at the Italian port of Civitaveccia, located close to Rome.
In the meantime, ‘MV Werften’ is extremely busy with smaller projects too. Just two and a half weeks ago, a guest by the name of Angela Merkel, who happens to be Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, visited their Stralsund shipyard for the keel laying of the ‘Crystal Endeavor’.
That ship has a capacity of 200 passengers only, since it is part of a different category. She is an icebreaker and an expedition yacht in one, meaning this one will not head towards St. Tropez or the Caribbean, but rather the North Pole and other spots of that kind.
Apart from the fact that ‘Crystal Endeavor’ will undoubtedly be a nice ship, Chancellor Merkel’s visit at the shipyard had another reason: ‘Stralsund Nordvorpommern Rügen’ is her constituency. She needs to show up once in a while.