Classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) is to class three Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCSs) to be built for China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and chartered to French operator CMA CGM. The 16,000 teu vessels will be the largest container ships built in China to date.
One will be built at the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) yard, and the other two at Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industry, part of which came under the management of SWS this year.
Maric Design
The 16,000 teu ships are only a fraction smaller than the largest container vessels being built today in Korea. The design was developed by the Marine Design and Research Institute of China (Maric). BV performed the drawing approval and conducted a structural examination.
Hydroelastic Design
The vessels will have an overall length of 399 m, a beam of 54 m, and a draft of 16 m. Special consideration has been given to hydroelastic design (whipping and springing) issues. A hydroelastic examination was performed to take into account extreme whipping loads due to slamming and additional fatigue damage due to springing, factoring in the elastic structural response of the ship.
This review provides a higher safety level compared to the rigid approach traditionally adopted, and is mandatory under BV Rules for ULCSs of 300 m and above. On the strength of this examination, BV’s WhiSp2 notation has been assigned to the ships.
Certified for 25 Years of Fatigue Life
The vessels will be also granted BV’s VeriStar Hull DFL 25-year notation, which certifies various structural details, including hatch corners and coamings, for 25 years of fatigue life, following a spectral fatigue analysis with a 3D finite element analysis model.
Safely Emptying of Fuel Oil Tanks
The 16,000 teu ships will be able to operate at a maximum speed of over 23 knots with a single-screw propeller directly coupled to a 69 MW, 2-stroke electronic engine. The vessels have a Cleanship and Fors notation. The latter incorporates special arrangements to ensure the ship’s fuel oil tanks are safely emptied in case of emergency, minimising the risk of pollution.
Steel cutting for the new vessels is to begin next year and delivery is expected for 2015.
