Breathe a sigh of relief in Wismar shipyard: Disney buys cruise ship "Global Dream"

It was to be the world’s largest cruise ship in terms of passenger numbers. But the corona pandemic broke out in the middle of construction. As a result, both the shipyard and the client find themselves in trouble. After a long stalemate, it is now clear: the almost completed “Global Dream” will not be scrapped.

The Disney group buys the cruise ship previously known under the name “Global Dream” from the insolvent MV shipyard group in Wismar. The US entertainment giant announced this in a blog entry. The in-house shipping company Disney Cruise Line wants to have the ship built at the MV Werften site in Wismar under their direction by experts from Meyer Werft. A purchase price is not known.

The cruise giant, also known as “Global One”, was originally intended to accommodate around 9,500 people. It should be the world’s largest ship in terms of passenger numbers. Disney is now planning with a capacity of around 6000 passengers with around 2300 crew members.

The ship, which is 75 percent complete, was originally intended for the Asian market by the former MV shipyard owner – the Chinese cruise group Genting Hong Kong. During the pandemic, however, the MV shipyards and later the parent company went bankrupt.

According to the international cruise association CLIA, the number of guests worldwide fell by 81 percent between 2019 and 2020 due to the corona. But the recovery is already in full swing: As the association announced at the end of September this year on the basis of a market analysis, demand has exceeded the 2019 level again. Back in April, CLIA President Kelly Craighead predicted that guest numbers would surpass pre-crisis levels by the end of 2023.

The sale of the cruise giant is of great importance for the shipbuilding location Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. After the insolvency of the MV shipyard group in January, 900 former shipyard employees are still in a transfer company. This was last extended until the end of November. Now, with the planned prefabricated building by the Papenburg Meyer shipyard at the Wismar site, there is a medium-term perspective.

According to earlier statements, the insolvency administrator of the MV shipyards, Christoph Morgen, has leased back the shipyard site in Wismar from the submarine builder Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) – the new owner – until the end of 2023. Morgen has also agreed with the company that the “Global Dream” can be temporarily parked at the outfitting quay in the following year.