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.

瓦锡兰获中国大洋协会两艘科考船订单

近期，瓦锡兰获得中国大洋矿产资源研究开发协会订单,为其两艘科考船提供主机以及废气清洁设备和可伸缩式推进器。中国大洋矿产资源研究开发协会是国家海洋局为理事长单位的从事国际海底资源及环境研究与开发的组织协调机构。这两艘科考船将分别由中船黄埔文冲船厂以及武昌船舶重工集团建造。

这两艘科考船分别选用了两台瓦锡兰4L20 +两台9L26 和两台4L20+两台8L26发动机提供动力，同时配有瓦锡兰可伸缩式推进器以及为发动机配置的氮氧化物后处理装置，从而达到国际海事组织关于氮氧化物的三级排放标准并取得EIAPP证书。发动机将以噪音及振动最小化的方式进行设计与安装，使得科考活动的数据收集和在船科研人员工作的干扰尽可能降低，同时也可改善船上人员的舒适性。这是中国科考船首次配备氮氧化物后处理装置。

交付后，其中一艘长约98米的科考船“大洋二号”将用于深海资源环境探测的综合研究。另一艘长约90米的科考船将被用作载人潜水器“蛟龙”的支持母船。两艘科考船按计划将分别于2019年3月交付船东。瓦锡兰的相关设备将于2017年底完成交付。