Weekly Shipping News

The handover ceremony of COSCO Shipping Energy "yuanruiyang" was held in Dalian, Liaoning Province on February 28, marking the successful delivery of the world's first LNG (liquefied natural gas) dual fuel (fuel and gas) powered super large crude oil ship tailored for COSCO Shipping by China Shipping Group's large ship group.

The "yuanruiyang" wheel is designed to be 333 meters long, 60 meters wide and 30.5 meters deep. LNG is used as the main fuel, and LNG dual fuel main engine, generator and boiler are equipped. It is classified into a single class of China Classification Society (CCS).

The ship adopts the latest line developed by Dashu group and is equipped with a 10.6m diameter large-size and efficient propeller suitable for the ship. The overall performance of the ship is excellent. Under the conditions of design draft and service speed of 15 knots, in the gas mode, the endurance of the ship can reach 12000 nautical miles, the total endurance of fuel and gas is 24000 nautical miles, and the design energy efficiency index is about 39% lower than the baseline value.

The ship adopts the domestic corrosion-resistant steel plate meeting the requirements of the International Maritime Organization for the first time, and the application scope covers the bottom of all cargo tanks and the top of the first group of cargo oil tanks, realizing the real ship engineering application of domestic corrosion-resistant steel and filling the domestic gap. The application of domestic corrosion-resistant steel plate reduces the amount of paint by about 20000 liters, greatly reducing the coating area of real ship construction and reducing environmental pollution. At the same time, many engineering application difficulties such as cutting, welding, assembly and inspection of corrosion-resistant steel have been solved independently in the process of ship construction.

Dashu group said that in the context of global energy transformation, Dashu group and COSCO marine energy to promote the application of LNG as the main fuel on super large crude oil ships will play a positive demonstration and leading role in energy conservation and emission reduction of large ships and the implementation of the goal of "carbon peaking and carbon neutralization" in the shipping industry. (source: Dashu group)

Ocean infinity, the world's leading autonomous underwater robot operator, continued to expand its fleet and ordered another six 85 meter long multi-functional autonomous navigation ships. With this new order, ocean infinity will have the world's largest remote control fleet of 23 vessels.

It is reported that ocean infinity recently signed a contract for the design and construction of these six new ships with vard, a Norwegian company under Fincantieri, an Italian shipbuilding group. This series of ships will adopt vard 980 design and be built by vard Touton shipyard in Vietnam. It is planned to be delivered from 2025. The new ship can be operated remotely from shore and is ready for the final use of green ammonia fuel.

By combining vard's ship system management and automation technology, as well as ocean infinity's own system integration capability and remote operation infrastructure, ocean infinity will be able to realize unique global scale remote ship operation.

Ocean infinity said that these new 85 meter long unmanned ships will be optimized for inspection, maintenance and repair and light construction work, so as to provide remote and ultra-low-carbon services for the offshore energy market. Like the eight 78m series ships currently under construction in vard, the new ship will also integrate new fuel cell and battery technology to continue to minimize the environmental impact.

It is understood that ocean infinity was established in the United States in 2017 and has rapidly developed into a world leading maritime technology company. In early 2020, ocean infinity established Amada, a new ship technology and data company, and released "Amada's fleet robotics".

With the latest six ships, the armada fleet of ocean infinity now has 23 ships, including grovfjord MEK, the largest aluminum workboat manufacturer in Norway in 2020 Nine 21 meter long and 36 meter long unmanned ships ordered by verksted (Gmv) and eight 78 meter long unmanned ships ordered in vard, of which the fifth just held a steel plate cutting ceremony recently.

Ocean infinity believes that the operation of Amada unmanned ship fleet is the safest, because they do not need maritime personnel at all, and they are also the most environmentally sustainable fleet, producing 90% less carbon dioxide than conventional survey ships. Armada fleet can replace traditional support ships to complete seabed mapping, oilfield material transportation, underwater construction support, salvage and rescue, military and other activities.

Armada fleet can carry ROV and AUV, as well as various other sensors or equipment to replace traditional support ships to complete seabed mapping, oilfield material transportation, underwater construction support, salvage and rescue, military and other activities. The fleet will be remotely controlled by one of three global control centers located in Austin, Texas, USA, Southampton, UK and Asia (the location has not been determined). (source: international ship network)