80,000 cubic meters of LNG carrier delivered
On February 18, the 80,000-cubic-meter liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier "Princess Dapeng" built by China Shipbuilding Corporation's Hudong-Zhonghua United China Shipbuilding Trading Co., Ltd. was named and delivered at the CSSC Changxing Shipbuilding Base. This is the first LNG ship to support the Hua'an LNG shore station, which is also located in the Dapeng Bay area of ​​Shenzhen, after China's first domestically-made large-scale 147,000-cubic-meter LNG ship "Dapenghao". The fourth LNG carrier named after the "Dapeng" Bay is also the first LNG carrier to be completed and delivered by Hudong-Zhonghua in 2023, fully starting a new journey for the implementation of the LNG carrier capacity doubling strategy.
The "Princess Dapeng" is the fourth-generation LNG carrier in the world's largest shallow water channel, which was independently designed and built by Hudong-Zhonghua. The ship has a total length of 239 meters, a molded breadth of 36.6 meters, and a tank type of GTT NO. 96 L03+, which has entered the double classification of China Classification Society (CCS) and American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).
"Princess Dapeng" has many highlights.
- It has the shallowest design draft among LNG ships of the same class in the world. Its unique design has a draft of less than 8.5 meters and connects the river to the sea. It has excellent seaworthiness. Especially in the dry season, it can also enter the Yangtze River and Pearl River basins in my country and serve a wide range of areas.
- It adopts unique double skeg line shape, excellent fast performance, good heading stability, high safety and reliability.
- It adopts twin main engines, twin propellers, and twin rudders for steering, making it the strongest navigating and maneuvering capability among LNG ships of the same level in the world.
With highly flexible transshipment compatibility, it can realize liquid cargo transshipment between a wide range of ship types ranging from small LNG carriers of 30,000 cubic meters to large LNG carriers of 174,000 cubic meters, providing customers with flexible and diversified two-way transshipment solutions.
CSSC Trading and Hudong Zhonghua successfully signed a contract with Shenzhen Gas in March 2021. This project is the first cooperation between Shenzhen Gas Group and China Shipbuilding Group, and it is also the first time that a domestic city gas company has independently placed an order. Despite the severe test of the Shanghai epidemic, the project took only 23 months from signing to perfect delivery to the shipowner. Facing the challenge of the epidemic, China Shipbuilding focused on project risk control, which was highly appreciated by shipowners.
The 80,000-cubic-meter LNG carrier is an important part of Hudong-Zhonghua’s LNG industry chain, and three ships have been delivered so far, becoming another brand ship model created by Hudong-Zhonghua.
Before 2008, China did not have an independently designed and built LNG carrier, and the "Shenzhen Project" was China's first LNG carrier project. Hudong-Zhonghua has the courage to forge ahead and successfully delivered the first domestically-made large-scale 147,000 cubic meter LNG carrier "Dapeng Hao" in April 2008, becoming the "breaker" and "pioneer" that broke the monopoly of Japan and South Korea. Since then, the "Dapeng Moon" and "Dapeng Star" have been delivered to Shenzhen successively, together with the "Dapeng Princess" delivered today. It has played an important and unique role in the process of economic construction in the Greater Bay Area and the implementation of the "Double Carbon" strategy, and it also demonstrates the strength of Chinese ships.
At present, Hudong Zhonghua holds nearly 50 orders for LNG ships, and the production task has been scheduled until 2028. 2023 is a critical year for Hudong Zhonghua to double its LNG ship capacity. It plans to deliver 4 to 5 LNG ships throughout the year. During the year, the number of LNG ships under construction will reach a record 16. The number of LNG ships under construction is expected to increase to 24 in 2024 .