On March 28th, Guangzhou Shipbuilding International (GSI), a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), together with China Shipbuilding Trading Co. Ltd (CSTC), signed a delivery agreement for the 7,000 ceu LNG dual-fueled pure car and track carrier (PCTC) No. 4 “THOR HIGHWAY” for Norwegian SFL Company, which was delivered more than 1 month earlier than scheduled. And this 7000 ceu PCTC is also the finale of the first batch of 4 dual-fuel PCTC built in South China.
The order for this series of PCTCs was signed in April 2021, which was the first order for GSI to enter the car carrier construction market. Since then, GSI, by virtue of its own technical advantages, has successively received orders for 33 car carriers, the largest of which has a capacity of 10,800 ceu, making GSI a global leader in this market segment in terms of the number of orders received.
The four PCTCs of this series are of the same main scale, with an overall length of 200 meters, a beam of 38 meters, a design draft of 8.6 meters, a design speed of 19 knots with a total of 13 decks, which are capable of carrying about 7,000 vehicles, two of which can be hydrogen-fueled vehicles. The PCTC is designed with natural gas (LNG)/fuel oil dual-fuel propulsion system, and the energy efficiency operation index (EEDI) meets the latest phase III requirements of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is an energy-saving, environmentally friendly and highly efficient car carrier.
During the construction of the four PCTCs in this series, GSI has skillfully mastered key core technologies such as thin plate deformation control, hull structure precision control, installation and commissioning of roll-on/roll-off equipment and LNG dual-fuel propulsion system. By constantly summarizing the construction experience, the construction team has been able to build the subsequent PCTCs at a faster and faster pace.
