A good start! Wuchang Shipbuilding's 18500 ton oil and chemical tanker, ship 1, has successfully started construction
On the afternoon of February 20th, the 18500DWT oil tanker vessel 1 (AA016M), built by China Shipbuilding Group Wuchang Shipbuilding for Athenian Sea Carriers in Greece, started construction smoothly.
Leaders and guests from relevant units such as Athenian Sea Carriers, SeaQuest Marine, Braema, LR Classification Society, China Shipbuilding Corporation, and Wuchang Shipbuilding attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
According to the introduction, the ship has a total length of 149.8 meters, a molded width of 22.8 meters, a molded depth of 12.7 meters, a designed draft of 8.5 meters, a range of 10000 nautical miles, a speed of 13 knots, and is classified as LR classification society. This ship is designed with methanol/LNG dual fuel readiness, providing high flexibility in the selection of dual fuel and its endurance in the future. This ship meets the latest IMO III emission requirements in fuel mode, and the energy efficiency design index (EEDI) meets the three-stage requirements starting from 2025. This ship is equipped with IMO Class II and III chemicals, reinforced with ice zones, and suitable for global navigation. Compared with mainstream ship design in the market, this ship has the advantages of green environmental protection, large loading capacity, high fuel efficiency, low emissions, and small carbon footprint, and has broad market prospects.
In March 2023, Wuchang Shipbuilding and China Shipbuilding Trade successfully undertook a batch of 18500DWT new oil and chemical ship construction projects, further enhancing Wuchang Shipbuilding's competitiveness in the field of small and medium-sized chemical ships, and steadily achieving the mass construction of small and medium-sized chemical ships.
Since the product was taken over, Wuchang Shipbuilding has comprehensively deepened benchmarking in design, construction, and other aspects based on a comprehensive summary of its experience in oil and chemical ship construction. It actively promotes innovation in new processes and methods, continuously optimizes oil and chemical ship construction methods, and carefully analyzes construction risks and formulates special construction plans for key and difficult projects such as cargo hold special coating construction and groove type bulkhead processing. To ensure the smooth operation of the ship, the production department, material supply department, and design institute will vigorously implement the "one game" concept of Wuchang Shipbuilding, actively organize and plan in advance, start from production design and material ordering, strengthen production preparation work, and achieve the integration of design, production, and management.
Wuchang Shipbuilding Design Institute continues to strengthen deep production design, construction method planning, and process improvement. Based on the technical summary of delivered oil tankers, it expands the implementation of unit group design, comprehensively optimizes the drawing architecture of various specialties, strictly implements manufacturing level drawings, further improves WSD decomposition, carries out technical research and improvement on the installation of cargo ship oil pump stations, optimizes and improves key processes such as special coating of shipways and welding of different thickness groove type bulkheads, Assist the company in releasing production capacity and improving construction efficiency.
The material supply department conducts market research simultaneously on the configuration and technical requirements of the main materials and supporting equipment of the product. On the premise of mastering the production schedule and price trends of steel mills and equipment manufacturers, the entire ship's 87 sets of equipment orders were completed in 3 batches, and the production, shipment, and transportation of steel plates were tracked throughout the process to ensure that they arrived and inspected within the specified time, providing reliable material support for product commencement.
In recent years, Wuchang Shipbuilding has been committed to making small and medium-sized oil tankers one of the main ship types, accumulating rich experience and achieving gratifying results in the design, construction, and management of oil tankers. Wuchang Shipbuilding will focus on the management theme of "promoting innovation through learning, creating value, and striving for excellence", continuously integrate resources, strengthen innovation mechanisms, adhere to the corporate mission of "creating excellent equipment for national defense and creating material wealth for society", and create green and high-quality vessels with exquisite craftsmanship for customers.
