Genting Cruise Lines (news tag) announced a plan for a separate fleet of newbuild midsize ships to be chartered to global passenger shipping and travel brands. The Universal-Class vessels will be built by MVWerften (news tag) - GHK's wholly-owned shipbuilding company.
The shipbuilding project will provide enough work to keep MV Werften's 3 shipyards in Germany (Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund) busy through 2024. Currently, MV Werften is building two "Global Class" ships for Genting. The first delivery is scheduled for 2021. The keel-laying for the second in the series was held on Monday, December 9, when Genting CEO Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay also announced the future Universal Class.
Smaller than Royal Caribbean's 230,000 GT Oasis Class, Genting's 208,000-ton Global Class ships have max passenger capacity 9000 each - far more than any other ship in operation or on order.
The Universal Class will be much smaller than Global Class (~90,000 GT tons) and with capacity around 2000 passengers, LNG-powered and with more spacious interiors.