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Aker Yards designs Princess Kaguya colossus
March 23, 2007

Conceptual designs for a huge ‘urban cruise ship’ which will house three 1,200 room hotels offering residential suites and offices, a total of 45 restaurants, a shopping mall, 6,000sq mtr convention hall, a 2,000 seater concert hall and amusement park, have been completed by Aker Yards, Seatrade Insider can reveal.

The company behind the project is Tokyo-based Japan Contents Network Inc whose CEO 60-year old Hajime Tanaka designed and built three Japanese golf courses in the 70s and a private driving circuit which hosted two Formula One Pacific Grand Prix’s in the 90s.

The dimensions of the ship, project name Princess Kaguya, are staggering: 370,000gt, 500 mtr long, with 20 decks and capacity for 8,400 passengers, 4,000 crew and a service speed of 20 knots. ‘What makes this project different to a conventional cruise ship is the ability to cater for 10,000 visitors whilst the ship is in port, in addition to the passenger/crew roster, allowing up to 30,000 people to be onboard simultaneously,’ Ko Nemoto, JCN corporate officer told Seatrade Insider.

The idea would be to hold sporting events and exhibition and trade shows on the floating city whilst the ship was in port, initially in Asian waters but dependent on demand the ships could go anywhere in the world.

Nemoto confirmed the company is now analyzing the business and financial aspects of the project in conjunction with a prominent European corporate finance house and a dozen or so Asian financial institutions. ‘We hope to get financial backing by the end of this year, and would spend a further year working on contractural issues’. The construction period will be three years so realistically the ship would not be ready until late 2011, early 2012.

Originally JCN set its sights higher, looking for a double-Genesis sized ship of around 450,000gt, but Nemoto said the conceptual study undertaken by Aker Yards showed the 370,000gt size to be technically feasible and more realistic in terms of manoevring in ports. RCI’s Genesis, arriving in 2009, will be 220,000gt, so Princess Nagoya would be more than one-and-a-half times bigger.

Asked by Seatrade if Princess Nagoya would be realized, Aker’s Juha Heikinheimo, svp sales and marketing Cruise & Ferries said last week in Miami: ‘We are a company of innovation. If a customer with a serious proposal approaches us we will take the project seriously. Princess Nagoya is a conceptual design that we verify is feasible to build,’ he confirmed. Would Aker be interested in building such a vessel? ‘Naturally yea, but we are not the only yard that could build such a design and if the project goes ahead the owners may ask anyone to bid,’ he noted.

Heikinheimo added, ‘some say Genesis-class is too big but limitations on cruise ship design are only in people’s thinking. Genesis will operate in the Caribbean out of Miami but there are other seas and other ports in the world that can take large ships. As designers and builders our task is to ensure the feasibility and seaworthiness of a design. There are lots of ports that can accommodate a 500mtr long ship.’

Seatrade Insider

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Cheers

[ 03-23-2007: Message edited by: bulbousbow ]

What would the chances be of getting 1st sitting at dinner..........

[ 03-23-2007: Message edited by: Linerdan ]

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A "World Ship" that not only transports people from one place to another, but like a World Nations Representative, welcoming to world on board in an open community setting.

With Land Space in Asia being at a premium, this is just another "response" to finding places to house, transport, and entertain the masses. I know the Ocean is the biggest unexplored frontier, with ships like this in the offing in years to come, we might see real "cities at sea" beyond anything RCI can throw at us.

I'm sure that many ship yards will be in on this, I'm sure that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries ship builders are aware of this. Seeing that they have built some of the biggest heavy use ships in service.

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Originally posted by Rex:
How utterly wasteful. I mean size matters, but this is carrying it to the extreme - are there even any oil tankers this huge???????

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Look at
this thread . Unless I am wrong this ship will still be bigger then the Princess Kaguya

[ 03-24-2007: Message edited by: Cunard Fan ]

I would say the biggest drawback is the draft to height and length to beam ratios. Neither is condusive to stability or seaworthiness. Also many of the harbors listed in the itinery do not have berths which can take such a long vessel. This reminds me of the issue of the A-380 being too heavy for many of the world's runways and we know where that plane is going...nowhere!

The Genesis design makes much more sense for a mega-ship.

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Originally posted by 6263866:
Asides the "new concept of cruising", which I think is horrible, that ship is hideous, the modern milk boxes today don't bother me much, I am one that says oh there not so ugly, but this is.....300,000 grt of eww.

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I don't think this new concept is horrible. I love the idea that local population will be allowed to board the ship (no need to moan during decades to recieve an invitation).

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