Buyer ‘interested’ in £900m cruise ship that was scrapped before first voyage
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The future of a giant £900million, 9,000-person, fully-built cruise ship could be secured as a potential new owner has emerged.
Earlier this year, we reported how the Global Dream ship had been sitting inside a German shipyard alongside its sister ship Global Dream II.
The latter was waiting to have some of its fixtures as well as its engines ripped out and sold – as it had already been decided that it would not be worth selling whole.
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But the Global Dream ship was still clinging on for dear life, with bosses welcoming bids over the next few months.
It was built by MV Wefrten and accommodates more passengers than any other cruise ship.
The ship was owned by Genting Hong Kong, but they filed for bankruptcy at the start of this year.
The first Global Dream ship is also unfinished in the same dock, but time is running out to find a buyer for the pair as the shipyard is going to make only submarines from 2024.
And now it has emerged that the Walt Disney Company – also known as Disney – has expressed an interested in the gigantic boat.
According to cruise industry experts Cruise Hive, the multi-billion-pound entertainment company wants to buy the 208,000-ton ship to add to its Disney Cruise Line line of ships.
And it could buy the boat for the full near-£1 billion valuation – and complete its construction.
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And local news outlets in German are reporting it could be delivered to the company before the end of 2024, setting sail that same year.
If it were to happen, which could become a reality by the end of this year, the 950 staff awaiting to hear about their redundancies from MV Weften could see their jobs saved as sources close to the situation have claimed that they would all be employed again to finish the giant ship.
The final stages required to build it would take place in Wismar, under the direction of Weften, who have already built three ships for the Walt Disney Company.
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No official comment on the purchase has been made, but the Daily Star has reached out to the company for a comment.
Despite the potential purchase of the Global Dream ship, no interest has yet been expressed in several others built buy the same company for Genting Hong Kong.
The biggest of the lot, the World Dream, was built in 2017, and currently sits in the Port of Singapore unable to move.
It can hold around 3,400 guests and around 400 crew members, and had its maiden voyage in November, 2017.
It made headlines during the pandemic when three passengers tested positive in January 2020, forcing all 3,800 guests and crew to live on the ship under quarantine.
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It's final journey ended on March 2, 2022.
Also awaiting its fate is the 2016-built Genting Dream, which is the only one of the Genting ships still in operation.
It has been loaned out to Resorts World Cruises (RWC) and mainly offers short trips around Southeast Asia to 3,000 guest.
Among the other ships, the Explorer Dream was built in 1999 and is currently docked in Port Klang, Malaysia.
As one of the older ships, it might be scrapped rather than being sold – despite costing around £300million to build.
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The oldest of the ships with its future in doubt is the Taipan.
This was built in 1989 and only holds 64 guest, and it had been reported that the ship had been bought by a German-based religious organisation who wanted to turn it into a floating bookshop.
However, the deal has not yet been completed, and the ship remains docked in Malaysia.
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