CIMC’s Ship Boarding Bridge Endorses the Success of Shenzhen Prince Bay Cruise

Shekou Prince Bay Cruise Homeport, the waterway passenger transportation junction of Shenzhen, officially started operations on November 12, marking a milestone in the takeoff of the city's cruise industry.

The homeport, a nearly 10 billion yuan (US$1.67 billion) project of China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings Ltd, is the only homeport in Southern China to have a comprehensive sea, land, air and train transportation connection. Its biggest berth can allow the world's biggest, 220,000-metric-tons grand cruise liners, to call. After the final stage of the construction is completed, the ferry terminal will become the largest cruise homeport in China China’s largest and a first-class one across the world.

SuperStar Virgo, the flagship of Star Cruises' Asian fleet, dropped its anchor at the ferry terminal on November 13, making it the first international cruise liner to choose Shenzhen as its homeport. About 2,000 international tourists bought the tickets for the maiden voyage. They were thrilled and excited at seeing the SuperStar Virgo docked nearby. Now, their dream journey was within easy reach: they would walk across the ship boarding bridges (SBB) manufactured by CIMC Tianda, board the luxurious ship, and embarked on the long-awaited journey.   

SBB is a mobile connection system for boarding and disembarking passengers from ships. The SBBs manufactured by CIMC Tianda can automatically adjust the gangway height to the terminal floor, so as to provide tourists with comfortable and safe walking space. The completely transparent gangways enable tourists to view the landscape of the ferry port, and its unique appearance complements with the entire buildings of the port. The SBBs earn their manufacturer a wealth of good comments from the operator of the Prince Bay Cruise Homeport and other homeports both at home and overseas. In addition, the Company also provides the baggage handling system for the Homeport.   

Prince Bay Cruise Homeport will have 8 more international passenger ship lines in January next year. The six-star Silver Shadow cruise liner, one of the most luxurious ships from Silversea Cruises, is also expected to set sail from the homeport then. This is the first time a six-star cruise will be dropping anchor on the Chinese mainland, and allows tourists to travel around the world in a more comfortable way. The initial estimate indicates that, by 2020, the overall number of cruise passengers will hit 1.5 million. During the sustainable development of the Homeport, the SBBs and baggage handling system provided by CIMC Tianda will continue to offer exceptionally excellent and quality service to tourists.

Mr. Chang Shaomin, CEO of Pteris Global Limited and General Manager of CIMC Tianda, said that as a multi-national company, CIMC is committed to providing high-quality equipment and systematic solutions for enterprises in modern transportation and logistics industries. Since the headquarters of CIMC is very close to the construction sites of Prince Bay Cruise Homeport, the Group has given full play to the location advantage and played a much more important and positive role in the construction than expected. Its specially tailored and customized advanced SBBs and baggage handling system will provide high-quality service to tourists from different parts of the world after the Homeport opens.  

According to Chen Zhe, Deputy General Manager of CIMC Tianda, the Company is the only specialist capable of independently providing one-stop solutions incorporating SBB consultation, design, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and maintenance in China. So far, CIMC Tianda has 13 SBB patents for inventions and utility models.

CIMC Tianda has delivered over 4000 unites of passenger boarding bridges for more than 200 airports worldwide. Also as an SBBs manufacturing specialist, CIMC Tianda has provided SBBs for cruise homeports in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Tianjin, Yantai, Dalian, Zhoushan and Marseille, marking the Company’s SBB product and technology have reached the international advanced level.