(Yicai Global) Aug. 9 -- A unit of China State Shipbuilding has begun constructing the second large homegrown cruise ship.

Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding kicked off construction of the 341-meter ship in Pudong, the administration of the district said in a statement on its WeChat account yesterday. About 40 percent of design blueprints are ready for the second big domestically produced cruise ship.

In November 2018, the state-owned shipbuilder inked a contract to design and construct two 135,500-metric-ton Vista-class cruise ships with the world’s biggest cruise operator Carnival and the largest global cruise ship builder Fincantieri.

The first vessel is expected to be delivered in 2023, according to SWS. Currently, the company is completing the interiors after steel plate cutting was kicked off in October 2019.

The newer ship will be more powerful. The vessel is more than 17 meters larger than the first ship and is expected to be delivered in September 2025. The construction period is six months shorter than that of the first one. The latest ship has a tonnage of about 142,000 tons whereas the capacity of the first one is 130,000 tons. The maximum speed is 22.7 knots, close to the clip of 22.6 knots for the first ship.

The mega-project has some other upgrades too. The second ship will have updated ventilation and involves heightened medical preparedness due to lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic, said Guo Yong, deputy chief engineer at SWS. It will also have a new type of lighting and involves green concepts such as desulfurization and a selective catalytic reduction system to cut emissions, Guo added.

Editor: Emmi Laine