CSIC sews up plan to speed up China's smart shipbuilding

SOE to also focus on manufacturing high-end vessels and gigantic intelligent carriers

China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, the primary contractor for the country's naval force, will accelerate the development of intelligent manufacturing processes at its shipyards as part of efforts to build high-end ships, its executives said.

CSIC's goal is to catch up with global rivals in the field, they said.

CSIC is known for its abilities to build conventional ships like bulk vessels, container ships and oil tankers. Now, the Beijing-headquartered company is enlarging its focus areas to develop high-end ships like floating hospitals, 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit container vessels, ocean farms, as well as dual-fuel ships and gas-powered ships with smart systems and latest wind-power technologies, said He Jiwu, CSIC's vice-president.

The company signed agreements worth 14.3 billion yuan ($2.08 billion) with both domestic and global shipowners and clients in the areas of shipbuilding, ship-leasing and ship-financing on June 27 in Beijing.

Under the deals, CSIC will deliver very large crude carriers or VLCCs, mega bulk carriers, oil tankers, chemical carriers to shipowners. It will also provide deep-sea intelligent fishing equipment and desulfurization facilities for mega container ships, and nuclear power equipment and other complete sets of equipment to its clients.

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd, a subsidiary of CSIC, delivered the world's first intelligent VLCC named New Journey to China Merchants Energy Shipping Co Ltd late last month in Dalian, Liaoning province.

Built over a period of three years, the VLCC is 333 meters long and 60 meters wide. Its dead weight is up to 308,000 tons. It is the first VLCC in the world that obtained the i-ship (intelligent) symbols from the China Classification Society.

In the construction of the New Journey, the shipbuilder received strong technical support from several research institutes, including the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute and the Shanghai Electrical Apparatus Research Institute.

Guan Yinghua, deputy technical director at Dalian Shipbuilding, said the delivery of New Journey underlines the need to develop large intelligent ocean-going vessels.

"Currently, all countries in the world are actively promoting intelligent navigation and developing intelligent technology for ships, which plays an important role in improving maritime traffic safety, energy saving and emission reduction, as well as economic efficiency," she said.

Guan also said with the top-level design of network and information platforms, the oil tanker has the functions of autopilot navigation, intelligent cargo management, integrated energy efficiency management, equipment operation and maintenance, and communication between ship and ashore.

"For example, the intelligent cargo management system collects information from more than 600 monitoring points, then analyzes it to give reasonable feedback for decision-making," she said.

Before its delivery, the New Journey was put through 45-day sea trials involving use of intelligent equipment, system installation and testing. It is the sixth-generation VLCC independently developed by Dalian Shipbuilding, and also the 97th VLCC delivered by the company. It has orders to build 109 VLCCs, or over 15 percent of the world's fleet in that class.

Wang Baochun, vice-president of CCS Dalian branch, said the intelligent carrier enables collection of navigation data, which will facilitate remote control and partially automated sailing.

The delivery of the New Journey will further promote development of high-quality vessels and enhance the market competitiveness of the Chinese super-large intelligent crude carrier industry, said Guan from DSIC.

"Intelligent ships are the products in demand in the shipping market. When we receive new orders, we would very much like to urge shipowners to lay more cable and allow for more space for the purpose of converting their ships into intelligent vessels in the future," she said.