On November 5, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), together with China Shipbuilding Trading Co. Ltd (CSTC), and Pacific International Lines (Private) Ltd. signed a contract for the construction of 5 x 9,000 TEU liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered dual-fuel container ships in Shanghai. On August 16th this year, Pacific International Lines signed a contract with Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for the first time for the construction of 5 new 13,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel powered container ships. This is another cooperation between the two parties in less than 3 months.
Pacific International Lines has reportedly signed a provisional contract with Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for five 9,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships. The new buildings are expected to be delivered between 2027 and 2028 at a cost of just over $140 million each, with the total value of the contract expected to exceed $700 million.
This 9,000 TEU container ship is independently developed and designed by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding and tailor-made for the operation characteristics of Pacific International Lines. The ship has an overall length of about 274 meters, a beam of 45.6 meters and a depth of 24.8 meters, with a maximum capacity of 9,040 TEU and can carry 1,308 refrigerated containers. Equipped with LNG dual-fuel power propulsion system and Hudong-Zhonghua’s self-developed 7600 m3 Type-B LNG fuel tanks, it has a range of 13,000 nautical miles in gas mode.
This type of ship adopts the latest design concept, and the green environmental protection performance is more prominent. It is equipped with high-efficiency main engine, energy-saving device, shaft generator and high-voltage shore power system; the bow is equipped with independently-designed windshield to further reduce sailing resistance; and it was equipped with scrubber tower, which allows the ship owner to flexibly switch the fuel according to the market conditions and greatly enhances the ship owner’s operation convenience.
A series of innovative designs have endowed this type of ship with the features of low comprehensive energy consumption, high speed and excellent green environment protection. Especially on the basis of meeting the most stringent international environmental protection regulations, it provides shipowners with more efficient, economical and flexible sea transportation solutions.
It is worth mentioning that after years of innovation and technology accumulation, Hudong-Zhonghua’s independent design system of Type-B LNG tanks has been gradually perfected, forming a series of Type-B LNG tanks suitable for LNG carriers, LNG bunkering ships and LNG-powered ships. The new ship contracted this time is also the third ship application project of Hudong-Zhonghua’s self-designed Type-B LNG tanks. In July this year, Hudong-Zhonghua’s self-designed 14,000 m3 Type-B LNG tanks were successfully applied on the world’s first and China’s first river-sea direct LNG bunkering carrier “Huaihe Nengyuan Qihang”, which has gained high attention from the market.
It is understood that from the late 1980s to the present, Hudong-Zhonghua has successfully built a series of multi-specification container ships such as 2700TEU series, 4250TEU series, 5688TEU series, 8530TEU series, 10000TEU series, 13000TEU series, 14500TEU series, 15500TEU series, 23000TEU series, 24000TEU series and etc. In particular, its series of innovative designs have filled many gaps in the field of container ships in China and won wide esteem and high recognition in the market.
The contract for the construction of five 9,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel-powered container ships not only enriches Hudong-Zhonghua’s spectrum of container ship types, but also enables the company to undertake orders for 26 large container ships this year alone, with a total amount of nearly RMB 30 billion.
It is reported that the new ships are scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2028 and deployed on the Southeast Asia and Middle East routes, which will further enhance the comprehensive efficiency of Pacific International Lines’s route services.