According to Chinese media People’s Daily, Chen Zhihua, deputy director of the planning department of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding, said in an interview, “We have scheduled orders until 2028. The schedule is tight and the task is heavy, so we have to work non-stop.”
For a long time in the past, the main fuel for the international shipping industry was diesel, and the ships built in the past by Beihai Shipbuilding were also fueled by diesel. However, in recent years, the market has changed dramatically, and the international shipping industry has become increasingly restrictive on ship emission indicators. “Now, it is difficult to get orders from international shipowners without building clean energy ships.” Chen Zhihua said.
“LNG is the safest marine fuel with a better emission reduction effect under the current economic and technological conditions.” Li Zhonggang, head of the Beihai shipbuilding design team, said. Beihai Shipbuilding selected LNG fuel ships as the first batch of low-carbon alternative fuel ships, and selected 210,000 DWT bulk carriers with high market demand as a breakthrough, which is the main ship type of bulk carriers in the world.
At present, Beihai Shipbuilding has a total contract value of RMB 35.438 billion (about $4.983 billion) for 64 ships, including 7 210,000 DWT LNG dual-fuel bulk carriers, and 87.5% of the hand-held orders for new energy green ships including ammonia fuel and methanol fuel.
Orders are pouring in, and Haixi Bay, where Beihai Shipbuilding is located, has gathered a number of shipbuilding and offshore manufacturing and various supporting enterprises. Haixi Bay has an annual capacity of 6.68 million deadweight tons of shipbuilding, more than 200 ship repairs and 500,000 tons of offshore engineering steel processing.