Fairytale Ending For Global Dream, The Unfinished German Cruise Ship

Stuck for over months in a dockyard on the Baltic coast in Germany, a partly finished mega-liner has been magically saved from the scrapheap by Disney, the American entertainment giant.

The ship, known as the “Global Dream” until now, was unfinished when the Asian-owned shipyard where it was being built reportedly filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of 2022.

MV Werften docks and the Asian operator Genting HK, the owner, went under as demand for cruises dropped due to stringent COVID-19 restrictions.

Global Dream’s construction would be completed at the former MV Werften shipyard, based in Wismar, under the supervision and management of Meyer Werften, which has constructed many of Disney’s fleet of cruise vessels, the group reported in a statement on Wednesday.

Video Credits: WaterWorld / YouTube

The turnaround was a “bridge to the future” for the shipyard, Daniel Friedrich, the local IG Metall union chief, mentioned on Thursday.

The union hopes that the restart of works on the cruise vessel saves as many jobs as possible in Wismar.

The MV Weften docks along the Baltic coast were reportedly sold off piecemeal by the administrators. Industrial groups, such as ThyssenKrupp, snapped up some locations, and Germany’s army nationalized others.

The sale of the unfinished cruise liner dragged on, with aspiring buyers needing to invest about 60 0 million euros in finishing the project.

The purchase by Disney indicated that the works in Wismar and the local employees had some new “prospects”, mentioned Reinhard Meyer, the economy minister of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

Meyer added that the cruise ship expected to be renamed would be duly finished with know-how from northern Germany.

Some of the features of the 342-meter-long cruise vessel, set to become one of the greatest pleasure liners in the world, will be “reimagined”, including a paint job inspired by the “Mickey Mouse” paint job the group mentioned.

Disney expects the passenger capacity to be close to 6,000 for the finished vessel with an additional 2,300 crew members.

References: Times Of Malta, Barrons, NDTV

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