Hardly had its cruise business started in earnest, the Chinese cruise line Bohai Cruise, a subsidiary of Bohai Ferry, is reportedly planning to acquire another vessel. Alan Lam reports.

According to its Hong Kong based general manager, Zhan Li, the company intends to expand its fleet “at an appropriate time”. At this stage Bohai is thinking about buying another vessel in the second hand market. It is also likely that it will order a newbuilding from a Chinese shipyard.

Bohai Ferry acquired Costa Voyager back in April and renamed the ship Zhong Hua Tai Shan, after one of the Five Great Mountains of China.

If this trend continues, China’s domestic cruise business will be a major capacity contributor in the coming years. Moreover, its distribution network is maturing fast. In September Ctrip, the biggest online travel agent in China, launched a online cruise booking platform in Chinese, providing booking services for global cruise products. More recently Shanghai also launched a similar platform, known as You You Tong, directly offering cruise ticketing and insurance service, among others.

Bohai Cruise will surely be one of the main beneficiaries on these services.