Viking Cruises, China Merchants to Form Chinese Cruise Line

Viking Cruises and China Merchants Shekou, representing China Merchants Group, have signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture focused on building a cruise line for the Chinese cruise market.

Under the deal signed on April 8, the wide-ranging partnership would cover the fields from product development to sales and marketing. Furthermore, China Merchants Group’s shipbuilding subsidiaries will partner with the joint venture to design and build new ocean cruise ships dedicated to the Chinese market.

“China is a dynamic outbound tourism market, and we are pleased to be partnering with China Merchants Group in this joint venture to drive the development of the cruise industry,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking.

“This is a full scale, multi-dimensional cooperation that covers all three main business sectors of China Merchants group,” said Gangfeng Fu, president of China Merchants Group.

Fu added that the parties anticipate the alliance would create synergies and innovative business models that will lead the cooperation into a market-leading cruise brand.

Viking operates a current fleet of 78 river and ocean vessels.