The Global Dream II is one huge unfinished cruise ship that nobody wants. Because of this, the German vessel builder MV Werften filed for bankruptcy in January. The ship will most likely be sold for scraps.
Attempts are being made to sell some of the fixtures and engines from Global Dream II, Christoph Morgen, an insolvency administrator at Brinkmann & Partner, said at a press conference, according to An Bord. The company will sell its unfinished keel, which is only installed at the bottom of the ship. After that, they will explore scrapping the vessel.
Bankruptcy
The shipbuilder which filed for bankruptcy is owned by the holding company Genting Hong Kong. The company was in the process of building the Global Dream II, which is from a series of world-class ships exclusively for Dream Cruises. This is one of the three lines of cruise ships owned by Genting.
Another vessel in the series, Global Dream, is still in its completion phase. It is currently anchored in the MV Werften dock in Wismar, Germany. The shipyard was sold earlier this month to a naval vessel maker. Its plan is to build watercraft and submarines in the early months of 2024. This means that time is running out to shift the two Global Dream ships, having less than a year to do so.
Expressions of Interest
Despite this, the shipbuilder has received several interests or purchasing and completing the Global Dream. Although according to the insolvency administrator, they never actually received a valid offer.
Morgen told the NDR, a German radio station, that Global Dream is almost 80% complete. The vessel is now buoyant and is transportable if linked to an ocean tugboat. However, the ship was designed specifically for use in Asia. This means that the new owner would need to spend a considerable amount of money to redesign its cabin, deck, and its drive concept. This would be to make it deployable in places outside of Asia.
One of the companies that have shown interest in buying Global Dream is Stena AB. It is a Swedish holding company that owns a ferry line. Sadly, it backed out due to the uncertainty it found in the Asian cruise market. Also factoring in the deal dropping is China’s strict restrictions on travel.
The Future of Global Dream II
According to An Bord, when the shipbuilder receives no offer for the unfinished vessel, it will be sold via an auction. If no serious bids are received, the ship will be destined to be sold for scraps. In a report by The Maritime Executive, the liquidators have denied these claims.
They maintain that they are still on the lookout for a potential buyer. In addition, the Brinkmann & Partner spokesperson has mentioned that they are still undecided if the Global Dream cruise ship will be sold at an auction.
Global Dream II Background
The vessel was set to debut in early 2021 as work on it started in March of 2018. It was expected to be launched as one of the world’s biggest cruise ships. The aim was to fit over 9,000 passengers in its 1,122-foot space with 2,500 cabins and 2,200 crew.
According to Dream Cruises, the cabins would be around 15% bigger than those on existing vessels. It was planned to leverage state-of-the-art technology such as face and voice recognition software. A theme park was also in the plans to be built on board the cruise ship.
According to The Maritime Executive, when the MV Werften ceased operations in January, it employed more than 2,000 workers.
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