Passenger ship “Yaohua” departing Kobe, June 1979
Owner: Peoples' Republic of China
Operator: China Ocean Shipping Co.
Builder: Chantiers de l'Atlantique (Penhoët-Loire), St Nazaire
Gross tons: 10,051
Deadweight:
Length overall: 148.8 m
Max. draft:
Engines; 2 x 9-cylinder Sulzer diesels, 15,000 b.h.p.
Speed: 19-20 knots
Passenger capacity: 100 1st class, 100 2nd class, 118 3rd class (classes on a communist ship???)
Completed August 1967
1982: chartered to & managed by Salén Lindblad Cruises; operated under the brand China Cruises from March 1983.
Ownership transferred 1984 to Guangzhou Ocean Shipping Co, remaining under same management/operator
Ownership transferred 1987 to Republic of China Maritime Corporation, renamed “Orient Princess”
In 1994 (or earlier?) operation transferred to Asphonel Services Inc, Panama & used as a casino ship under the management of Main Fortune Ltd (retaining name); one source states she was used as such in Hong Kong and Macao
In 2002 she was arrested for non-payment of crew wages; put under auction in 2002 & after several changes of ownership was bought by Tianjin SASAC (State-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission of the State Council) or Tanggu State-owned Assets Investment & Operation Co. (sources differ), in co-operation with the Tianjin Dawei Group was converted to an “entertainment facility” and eventually moored at the Bund Park wharf of the Tanggu District of Tianjin.
Current websites refer to her as a “floating hotel” or “accommodation ship” but I cannot find any evidence that she is still operational
(In the photo the ship in the background, left, is the Egyptian “Nile U”, built 1961 as Strick Line's “Gorjistan” IMO 5133785)