China State Shipbuilding Corp has delivered the first of a new type of bulk carrier to a buyer in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, the world's largest shipbuilder said.
The ship, Emerald Putuo, was delivered to its buyer－Zhejiang Xinyihai Shipping－at a commissioning ceremony in Guangzhou's Nansha district on Monday, the State-owned conglomerate said in a statement, adding that it will be rented by a shipping company registered in the United States to transport soybean, corn and other grain products.
Designed and built by CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding in Guangzhou, the vessel is nearly 229 meters long, 36 meters wide and has a carrying capacity of 85,600 metric tons. Its cruising speed is 14 knots, or 26 kilometers per hour. The ship features a large cargo space of 106,000 cubic meters.
Xiang Huiming, chairman of CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, said at the commissioning ceremony that the new type of bulk carrier boasts world-class technology and has low fuel consumption, high speed, large carrying capacity and eco-friendly equipment.
He said the ship's construction took only nine months thanks to the use of smart welding robots, a digital shipyard and other advanced shipbuilding technologies, adding that seven other such ships have been ordered.
According to its designers, the new vessel can be used on most of the world's shipping routes and in most ports and is an ideal option for transporting coal, ore, grain and cement.
Cui Yiliang, editor-in-chief of Modern Ships magazine, said that the global shipping industry is in need of new bulk carriers with large cargo capacity, good cost-efficiency and environmentally friendly design.
"This new vessel represents China's latest design and construction technologies for cargo ships and will strengthen the Chinese shipbuilding industry's competitiveness in the international freighter market," he said. "It will become one of the nation's major carrier types for long-distance ocean cargo shipping."