How far away is the era

By Xu Miaomiao

How far away is the era

By Xu Miaomiao

A t present, french shipowner CMA CGM is considering to order up to 9 LNG-powered super large containerships, including 6 newbuildings and 3 alternative orders, with expected total transaction volume reaching over 1.4 billion dollars.

The order of LNG-powered containerships of such a large volume by CMA CGM is derived from its forecast and action in advance. CMA CGM group has begun doing research on LNG-powered ship since 2011. As an equipment manufacturer said that if CMA CGM becomes a business example to other shipping companies, will it drive the other companies to follow, can it bring a new round of upsurge to construct LNG-powered ship and further to speed up the construction of LNG fi lling station?

Mr. Li Qing, the vice director of ship transportation technology research center of China Waterborne Transport Research Institute of MOT, considered, from perspective of the development of ocean-going LNG-powered containerships, LNG-powered ship is the chicken, and refueling station is the egg. As the economic value of ocean-going ships anchoring at ports is much higher than the cost of constructing refueling facilities, and as LNG-powered ship develops, ports certainly will strengthen the construction of LNGrefueling station in order to meet the port of call of oceangoing ships. If CMA CGM had these nine LNG-powered ships delivered successful, its next step certainly will layout refueling stations in corresponding network of the corresponding routes. Looking back at home, many refueling stations are built along inland rivers, which can support the operation of 4000～5000 LNG-powered ships in total. However, there are not many LNG-powered ships in the market, so even if most of the refueling stations that possess the complete formalities will also face idle. The refueling stations of inland built by energy enterprises are the result of the overestimate of the market expectation, and the enthusiasm of ship owers is not high. Take the CMA-CGM as an example, the reason of constructing LNG-powered ships is the consideration of market share. Compared with the stability and expansion of market, it seems that the increased construction cost of LNG-powered ship is not very important. At the same time, the construction cost of containership is high already, and the rate of increase of LNG-powered ship is not high. While the situation of inland river is different, the construction cost of LNG-powered ship is 30% higher than the ordinary diesel fuel ship. In addition to the recession of inland water shipping, it will take ship owners more than 10 years to recover the increased construction investment by saving fuel cost, this will decrease their enthusiasm to a large extent. The consideration of environmental protection requirements is the main consideration for ocean-going shipping companies to build LNG-powered ship, while the inland shipping companies mainly consider how much fuel costs can be saved.

When the ocean-going LNG-powered ships are delivered, it can bring many benefits to ports, so the ports will actively cooperate with energy enterprises to construct refueling stations. Therefore, the development of LNG-powered ship on the ocean-going routes will certainly promote the construction of matching refueling stations in ports along the route.

瓦錫蘭獲中國大洋協會兩艘科考船訂單

近期，瓦錫蘭獲得中國大洋礦產資源研究開發協會訂單,為其兩艘科考船提供主機以及廢氣清潔設備和可伸縮式推進器。中國大洋礦產資源研究開發協會是國家海洋局為理事長單位的從事國際海底資源及環境研究與開發的組織協調機構。這兩艘科考船將分別由中船黃埔文沖船廠以及武昌船舶重工集團建造。

這兩艘科考船分別選用了兩臺瓦錫蘭4L20 +兩臺9L26 和兩臺4L20+兩臺8L26發動機提供動力，同時配有瓦錫蘭可伸縮式推進器以及為發動機配置的氮氧化物后處理裝置，從而達到國際海事組織關于氮氧化物的三級排放標準并取得EIAPP證書。發動機將以噪音及振動最小化的方式進行設計與安裝，使得科考活動的數據收集和在船科研人員工作的干擾盡可能降低，同時也可改善船上人員的舒適性。這是中國科考船首次配備氮氧化物后處理裝置。

交付后，其中一艘長約98米的科考船“大洋二號”將用于深海資源環境探測的綜合研究。另一艘長約90米的科考船將被用作載人潛水器“蛟龍”的支持母船。兩艘科考船按計劃將分別于2019年3月交付船東。瓦錫蘭的相關設備將于2017年底完成交付。