Polsteam has ordered four bulk carriers in Chinese shipyards

The Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) shipyard, part of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) group – as commented by Chinese media – “started the year well” – winning contracts to build ten ships for two shipowners, including Polish Steamship Company (Polsteam).

There are six large container ships for an undisclosed client and four 37,000-tonne deadweight bulk carriers destined for navigation on the Great American Lakes for Poland’s largest shipowner Polsteam. Information about these orders was published by the Chinese media and (on 22 January) by the shipyard itself.

Six dual-fuel (LNG/diesel) container ships of 16,000 TEU each will be built for a “well-known” European shipowner at the Dalian shipyard. They will be the world’s first such large container ships with an ammonia-ready propulsion system, equipped with DF engines from the WinGD project and the latest iCER-Diesel system, which significantly reduces emissions.

The ships for Polsteam are to be constructed at the Shanghai branch of DSIC, which already has a track record of building approx. Fifty bulk carriers on the Great American Lakes. The ships for the Polish shipowner will each be 199.99m in overall length, 23.70m wide, typical for ocean-going “lake carriers”, with a depth moulded of 15.60m and a moulded draught of 10.70m.

The new bulk carriers will be equipped with suspended (shaft) generators and catalytic converters (SCR system) to clean nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the exhaust gases, among other features. They will also have design and construction features and equipment to meet IMO energy efficiency index requirements coming into force in 2025 (EEDI phase III).

According to the shipyard – the vessels will be distinguished by – improved manoeuvrability and economic (efficiency) parameters as well as higher environmental friendliness compared to other similar vessels available on the market.

A photo posted by the shipyard and information about the two contracts suggests that they may have been signed remotely, using live video linking on the internet.

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC), with its headquarters and production facility in Dalian, Liaoning Province, and a production branch in Shanghai, is described as the largest shipyard in China.

The DSIC shipyard (Dalian site) is known, among others, for completing the construction of China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, bought from Russia, and for independently building – from the keel – the Chinese navy’s second aircraft carrier, the Shandong.

In Europe, only small bulk carriers are still being built (mainly in the Netherlands). Almost all bulk carrier production has long since moved to the Far East, especially China. Polish shipyards built their last bulk carriers in 1996 (two), in 1994 and 1993 (one each), and only nine since 1990.

Bulk carriers have also not been built in other European countries for a long time. The last existing ships of this type with a deadweight of 20,000 tonnes or more were built, for example, in Romania in 2016 (three) and 2013 (one), in Italy in 1999 (two), 1997 (three), in Croatia in 2016 and 2013 (one each), 2012 (two), in Bulgaria in 2012 (one), 2011 (two).

source: PortalMorski.pl