On November 8th, the new invar special process workshop of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding , which is the only one in China to support NO.96 LNG carriers, was put into operation, and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding’s strategy of doubling its LNG production capacity has taken another solid step forward. The commissioning of the new workshop will greatly enhance the supporting production capacity of LNG carriers, marking the company’s further enhancement of the advantages of centralized production of special supporting industries such as insulated boxes, prefabricated invar, cryogenic pipe modules, etc. for LNG carriers, and further consolidating the foundation for the doubling of LNG production capacity.
The construction of the workshop started in January this year in Changxing Island site of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, and the basic construction was completed in the first half of October. The workshop is a multi-span single-storey industrial workshop, covering an area of 6386 square meters, with a building area of 6341 square meters, adopting double wall insulation and epoxy flooring design to meet the requirements of constant temperature and humidity control.
The new workshop consists of 6 functional areas, such as invar material stacking area, processing area, welding area, etc. The production site has increased by 60% compared with the old workshop, and the storage area has increased to 2 ship sets from 0.5 ship sets originally. As the invar steel material is very “delicate” and easy to rust, in order to meet the storage needs of the invar steel, the whole workshop is equipped with dehumidification equipment to ensure that the indoor temperature is maintained at 15-30℃ and the relative humidity is less than 60%.
Equipped with advanced manufacturing equipment, the workshop has increased its annual production capacity from 4 to 5 sets of prefabricated parts for NO.96 type LNG carriers to 6 to 8 sets per year. According to Hudong-Zhonghua’s strategy plan, the supporting company will continue to strengthen, and in 2024, it will form the supporting capacity of 8 to 12 large LNG vessels.
According to Hudong-Zhonghua’s previous announcement, since 1997, the shipyard has been deeply engaged in the LNG industry for 26 years, and has delivered more than 40 LNG carriers (equipment) of various types. Presently, it holds orders for nearly 50 LNG vessels, and the production tasks have been scheduled until 2028, forming a full range and coverage of high-end LNG products from ocean-going (174,000 cbm LNG vessels) to offshore (80,000 cbm LNG vessels), and from inland waterways (14,000 cbm LNG transport and refueling vessels) to inland (land-based LNG storage tanks), and has become a veritable “Chain Leader”.