The new owners of Oriana is a joint venture company between CTS (China Travel Service) and Cosco (China Ocean Shipping Group Company), who recently purchased the 1995-built vessel from P&O Cruises.
The 1,818 lower berth ship will depart from P&O Cruises next August.
V. Ships Leisure to manage tech and hotel ops
V.Ships Leisure has been awarded the contract to handle both technical and hotel operation management.
Oriana is currently sailing on a bareboat charter back to the sellers in Europe, and will be handed over to the new joint venture mid-August 2019.
ex-China sailings from September 2019
The vessel will start operating ex-China cruises around middle September 2019.
To support this project in its entry and expansion into the Chinese cruise industry, V.Group will set up a new fleet cell in China, making it the first shipmanager to set up a fleet cell in China for large-scale cruise operations.
Per Bjornsen, director, V.Ships Leisure said, ‘We are very pleased to have secured the contract to handle the technical and hotel management of this cruise ship after the redelivery next August.’
He continued, ‘We are proud to build on our legacy in the cruise sector, as the first ship manager to create a separate company for cruise ship management and now becoming the first manager to set up a fleet cell in China for cruise operations for both technical and hotel operation.’
This is Cosco and CTS's first joint foray into cruise vessel ownership although Cosco's Zhoushan Shipyard has undertaken cruise ship refurbishments and Cosco gained a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority in August, 2016.
Sources:Seatrade Cruise News
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