Viking Sun will no longer sail for Viking Ocean Cruises, but for the joint venture China Merchants Viking Cruises.
The vessel's handover has already been completed, the flag-state changed to China, and it was renamed to Zhao Shang Yi Dun.
With the merger, Viking Cruises wants to position itself even more broadly. Via the joint venture, the group plans to be able to operate luxury voyages on the Chinese cruise market in the near future.
In addition to Zhao Shang Yi Dun, the 2 joint venture partners, Viking Ocean Cruises and China Merchants wish to add more luxury vessels to the fleet of the new joint venture China Merchants Viking Cruises.
Viking is a cruise ship company that, with Viking Ocean Cruises and Viking River Cruises, is showing a fleet growth that hardly any other shipping line can compete with. In the high seas area, 7 newbuilds were put into service between 2015 and today, with 9 more to follow by 2027.
Viking will soon be found on the expedition market as well, with Viking Octantis, the first newbuild to go into service here in 2022.