Carnival Corporation & plc group's Chinese operations, including a new Chinese brand the launch of which was unveiled today, are part of the group's UK domiciled holding company Carnival plc, said Alan Buckelew,COO of Carnival Corporation & plc, at a conference all.

"All of our operations in China fall under the PLC part of our Carnival Corporation and David Dingle is the lead; he's been very active from the beginning. Equally likely is the newly created will fit within the UK tonnage tax structure so there is a positive UK story which made it appropriate for us to sign the deal in the presence of Cameron (British prime minister David Cameron) and Xi (Chinese president XI Jinping). Just as the Chinese government is greatly looking forward to developing with us, the British government is looking forward to playing its part in the development," Buckelew said..

When asked to comment on the value of the deal Carnival signed with China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and China Investment Corporation (CIC) in London to form a joint venture to launch a Chinese cruise brand, he said: "Very hard to put a value on it, alternative business plans that show a range of different ships we can bring into this joint venture. This is a 25-year deal. What we will actually end up building and buying in 25 years is hard to forecast. Both sides are quite happy with … an investment of $4 billion in the first ten years. Capital investment. In total, this is meant to be an ongoing concern."

"The intention now that we've agreed to all the terms for the joint venture is to move, once we get final governmental approval is to move immediately into implentation phase. Not a specific set of dates but that will be the first order of business: Agreeing on final business plan and introduction of vessels," he continued.

The new joint venture aims to buy second hand vessels to start the operation and then to build ships in China. "The Chinese government has been very vocal about developing service industries, and cruising is specially mentioned as an industry they want to encourage from both the shipbuilding and travel perspective," Buckelew stated.