On January 5, China Merchants Heavy Industries Haimen shipyard (CMHI Haimen shipyard) delivered the world’s largest and most environmentally friendly ro-ro vessel capable of carrying 9,100 vehicles. The vessel will sail to Shanghai and be put into operation.
The car carrier delivered this time is the dual-fuel and zero-carbon reserved “Aurora Class” series car carrier. The vessel has an overall length of 199.9 meters, a beam of 37.6 meters, a depth of 14.53 meters and a design draft of 9.35 meters with a carrying capacity of 9,100 cars.
It is equipped with one low-speed dual-fuel main engine and three dual-fuel generators, which can use both LNG and conventional fuels. In addition, it has the classification notations of “Ammonia Fuel Reservation” and “Methanol Fuel Reservation” of DNV, which makes it the first vessel in the field of car carriers that can use carbon-neutral fuels, and also the largest and the most environmentally friendly car carrier in the world at present.
Norwegian ro-ro operator Hoegh Autoliners has placed an order with CMHI Haimen shipyard for 12 Aurora-class car carriers in three batches between 2022 and 2023, with this delivery being the third unit. The first and second vessels were delivered in August and October 2024 respectively.