A Good Start to the 15th Five-Year Plan: The World's Leading LNG Carrier "Tianshan" is About to be Delivered
In recent years, my country's liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers have developed rapidly. These past few days, at Shanghai Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a new generation LNG carrier using the world's latest dual-fuel low-speed propulsion system is under construction and will be officially delivered by the end of the month.
According to CCTV reporter Xiao Bingyi, the 174,000-cubic-meter large LNG carrier "Tianshan" which will be delivered at the end of this month is enormous. The ship is 295 meters long and 45 meters wide, and its deck area is equivalent to the size of three standard football fields.
This type of vessel is closely related to our lives. As a major importer of natural gas, my country relies heavily on these "super-refrigerated trucks at sea" for the transportation of massive amounts of natural gas, in addition to pipeline transport. These trucks can efficiently transport gas through cryogenic liquefaction, with a single shipment capable of meeting the gas needs of 3.3 million households for a month. my country has already developed and built this type of vessel independently. Large LNG carriers, along with large cruise ships and aircraft carriers, are known as the "three jewels in the crown" of the shipbuilding industry.
Yang Chunhua, director of the Hudong-Zhonghua Development Institute of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), explained that the LNG carrier, independently developed and designed, inevitably experiences evaporation and loss of LNG, just like water, during long-distance ocean voyages. Therefore, this ship is equipped with a globally leading liquid cargo containment system, enabling it to safely navigate at temperatures as low as -163°C while carrying liquefied natural gas. Simultaneously, it employs a dual-fuel propulsion system, reducing daily carbon emissions by more than 10 tons compared to traditional fuel-powered propulsion.
In short, this type of ship features low overall energy consumption, good low-temperature performance, and strong cargo carrying capacity. As a result, Hudong-Zhonghua delivered 11 LNG carriers last year, breaking the industry record and gaining widespread recognition in the international market.
Orders are booked until 2030
my country's green shipbuilding industry is set to launch at full speed.
What is the current order and production status? What percentage of the ships being built are green?
Yang Chunhua explained that Hudong-Zhonghua currently has over 80 large LNG carriers and container ships on order, with a schedule extending to 2030. Of these, 80% are green ship orders from around the world. In addition to their superior performance, the large ships built by Hudong-Zhonghua utilize digital construction technology, reducing the construction cycle from 21 months to 16-17 months and lowering construction costs.
Green ship development
Defining future ocean routes
What are your thoughts on the future trend of green ships? What core technologies are currently under research and development and are being broken through?
Yang Chunhua: The new ships we are developing take into account green technologies related to methanol and LNG clean energy, as well as other energy-saving designs. In addition to meeting the latest international carbon emission standards, this is also a market choice. It can be said that whoever masters green technologies will dominate the market in the future.
(Reporters Yang Xiao, Wu Tianbai, Sheng Jinyu, and Xiao Bingyi from CCTV)
Source: CCTV News Client
