The First Chinese Classification Society (CCS) Wood-chip Carrier 'SDM QUANZHOU' was Successfully Delivered
Recently, the 64,000t wood-chip carrier “SDM QUANZHOU” built by CSSC Chengxi Shipyard Co., Ltd. for Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. was successfully delivered in Yangzhou. The relevant leaders of CCS Jiangsu Branch attended the delivery ceremony.
The development of wood-chip carrier is closely associated with the paper industry. At present, China has become the world's largest paper-making country, with an increasing demand for raw materials of paper-making and a growing demand for wood-chip carriers. Due to the relatively low density of wood-chip, compared to ordinary dry bulk carriers, wood-chip carriers have a larger depth and width, as well as a larger cargo hold capacity.
The “SDM QUANZHOU” delivered this time was upgraded by Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI) based on the R&D of original Bohui 640,00t wood-chip carrier and in accordance with the latest regulations and conventions. It is a large wood-chip carrier with lower fuel consumption, higher speed, and more environmentally friendly and economic benefits.
The ship, 210m long, 37m wide and 23.5m deep, has a structural draft of 11.95m, a design speed of 14.1 knots, and a total of 6 cargo compartments and 3 ship cranes. With the structural arrangement and member scantlings of cargo hold areas fitted with single deck, double bottom, hopper tanks and single skin but without topside tank, it has a larger loading volume compared to the ships of the same size. In addition, this ship can also carry a total of 48 40-foot containers on the cargo hatch cover. This ship's energy efficiency design index (EEDI) is 32% lower than the benchmark value through lines optimization.
Taizhou Office of CCS Jiangsu Branch has actively responded by dispatching skilled personnel to study the structural characteristics and technical difficulties based on the ship characteristics, collect the operation situations of existing wood-chip carriers, gather the feedback on hull structure during operation, so as to better manage project critical milestones during construction survey, and make sufficient preliminary technical preparations.
During the construction of this ship, in addition to wood-chips, there are also requirements for transporting 48 types of bulk cargoes, grains, and carrying containers with hatch covers. In the face of tight schedules and heavy tasks, the Shipbuilding Business Department of CCS headquarters attached great importance, actively coordinated with relevant units of CCS Shanghai Institute of Standardization, CCS Jiangsu Drawing Review Center, and Taizhou Office, dispatched system experts to work overtime to discuss the technical points and feasibility of solutions, and carried out on-site surveys of the actual situation of ship layout and structure, and made face-to-face communication with customers; it also sorted out the technical clauses one by one from the perspectives of classification and statutory regulations, discussed and demonstrated the technical solutions to meet the diverse loading needs of customers and improve the economic efficiency of this type of ships.
On the basis of ensuring construction quality, the resident ship surveyors made close contact with the shipowner and shipyard, and fully cooperated with the shipyard‘s production progress bearing through working overtime and overcoming various difficulties. With the joint efforts of all parties, this ship once again broke the best records for 64,000t wood-chip carrier construction of Chengxi SHIPYARD (Yangzhou) Co., Ltd., receiving unanimous praise from the outside world in terms of the ship construction speed and quality.
Wood-chip carrier is a specialized bulk carrier for loading fragmented wood materials. Wood-chips can be used to make pulp or bio fuels, and the wood-chips loaded on the wood-chip carrier are fragments of wood that are cut into 2-3cm. Compared with other bulk cargoes, wood-chips have low density, and the hold capacity of 64,000t wood-chip carriers is 1.65 times that of regular 64,000t bulk cargo ships. To meet the hold capacity requirements, the main engine needs to be closer to the stern, which makes the lines design difficult.