Hong Kong Companies Owned the Largest and the Fastest Passenger Ships

When she made her commercial maiden voyage on October 16, 1946, RMS Queen Elizabeth immediately became the largest passenger liner ever built—although her true, secret maiden voyage had occurred in March 1940 as a wartime troopship.

After an eventful career, she was sold to Hong Kong businessman Tung Chao-yung in 1970 to be converted into a floating university and renamed Seawise University. Unfortunately, on January 9, 1972, several blazes broke out across the ship. The water pumped by fireboats caused her to capsize in Victoria Harbour, where she lay for two years before finally being scrapped.

Similarly, SS United States also broke a record on her own maiden voyage. Between July 3 and July 7, 1952, she smashed the eastbound transatlantic speed record at an average speed of 35.59 knots (65.91 km/h or 40.95 mph), earning the prestigious Blue Riband. To this day she still holds this title even though faster passenger vessels sailing non-transatlantic routes have since been launched.

In 2003 she was sold to Norwegian Cruise Line, owned at the time by Hong Kong-based Star Cruises—itself a subsidiary of the holding company Genting Hong Kong. In 2011 she was eventually sold to the SS United States Conservancy. As of 2026, she is anchored in Alabama, in the United States, awaiting final federal permits to be intentionally sunk off the coast of Florida, to become the largest artificial reef in the world.

This means that, technically, Hong Kong-based companies once held ownership of the record holders for both the largest and the fastest passenger ships of their time.