Next month's test voyage, the "Aida Magic City"! The first domestically produced large cruise ship docked today | Cruise | Domestic
On June 6th, the first domestically produced large cruise ship, "Aida Modu", will usher in a historic moment of undocking at China Shipbuilding Group Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
Chen Hong, the technical manager of the company's large-scale cruise ship project, stated that undocking is the most important node in determining the ship's status. A smooth undocking means that the first domestically produced large-scale cruise ship has a complete structure, main core equipment and pipelines have been basically installed, and all indicators meet the requirements, and it has the ability to navigate. At the same time, after being docked, the construction of the first domestically produced large cruise ship officially entered the final stage, mainly including interior decoration engineering and system debugging.
Large cruise ships, aircraft carriers, and liquefied natural gas carriers are collectively known as the three "crown jewels" of the world shipbuilding industry. Many Chinese shipbuilders have a dream about a large cruise ship in their hearts, and many Chinese consumers also look forward to one day being able to board a domestically produced large cruise ship and set sail.
At present, the overall construction progress of the first domestically produced cruise ship "Aida Modu" has been completed by about 93%, and the interior decoration project has also been completed by about 85%. According to the plan, the "Aida Magic City" will be delivered before the end of the year and put into operation early next year. In the future, the "Aida Magic City" will move from Shanghai to the world, and China's shipbuilding industry is expected to open a new chapter of high-quality development driven by large cruise ships.
A "giant system engineering" project
The day before leaving the dock, the "Aida Modu" quietly floated in the 740-meter-long cruise ship dedicated dock of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding. The reporter saw that the painting of its hull draws inspiration from Dunhuang mural art, with the theme of "Silk Road", selecting Dunhuang Flying Apsaras and Tiannu Scattered Flowers from Chinese aesthetics, integrating classic colors with dynamic lines, and innovatively interpreting the charm of Eastern culture.
This is not only a work of art, but also a giant system engineering. The total length of the "Aida Magic City" is 323.6 meters, with a width of 37.2 meters. It has a total of 2826 cabins and a total area of approximately 34600 square meters. Among them, there are 2125 passenger compartments, which can accommodate 5246 passengers when fully loaded. At the same time, the 16 story superstructure living area has rich leisure facilities such as theaters, specialty restaurants, shopping squares, art corridors, and water parks.
As the most complex single unit electromechanical product in the world, this large cruise ship has as many as 25 million components, equivalent to 5 times the size of the C919 aircraft and 13 times the size of the Fuxing high-speed railway; The cable exceeds 4300 kilometers, which is approximately the distance from Shanghai to Lhasa. Although individual components may not be difficult to produce, integrating and assembling them together is an extremely complex process, and in this regard, China is completely starting from scratch. An insider from Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding once vividly described the situation when the cruise project was just launched: "The biggest challenge at that time was that we didn't even know what we didn't know."
After a period of learning and exploration, the project team finally gained their own understanding of building large cruise ships - large cruise ships have long surpassed the concept of ships, more like a "concentrated city on the sea.". Building a large cruise ship is the process of moving a giant entertainment complex on land onto the ship while ensuring safety and progress, while also controlling weight, movement noise, and cost. Therefore, cruise ship construction tests not only shipbuilding technology and craftsmanship, but also management models and related industry support.
Chen Hong explained his understanding of "giant system engineering", which is that the number of problems solved by developers is exponentially increasing compared to traditional civilian products. For example, the pipeline of a cruise ship reaches three to four hundred kilometers, and the cable length is over 4000 kilometers, while the cable length of a 300000 ton crude oil ship is only 100 to 120 kilometers. When the factors that affect the project or require coordination increase exponentially, the difficulty of coordination will sharply increase.
For example, passengers on a cruise ship need to take the elevator, and the floor height at the elevator entrance should be the same as elsewhere. However, elevator areas, stairwells, and corridors belong to different suppliers with their own standards, which can lead to many conflicts and contradictions. Management needs to do a lot of coordination work, and all parties may need to make constructive concessions within a framework to complete these specific and complex tasks.
The supporting supply chain behind a large cruise ship involves more than 100 strategic suppliers, more than 8000 professional suppliers, and at most, hundreds of construction units and thousands of workers on board for synchronous and cross operation. Every step must be carefully taken to ensure that there are no problems and perfect connections, otherwise it may lead to chain reactions and even safety hazards.
"I have been in the shipbuilding industry for 20 years and have been involved in managing the construction of 50 civilian ships. Large cruise ships are the most complex projects in my career, and being able to manage cruise projects well and build any other ship is not a problem," said Chen Hong.
Breaking through three key technologies
At 2am on June 1st, the dock where the first large cruise ship was built began to be flooded with water. This is a process that ships must go through before they are docked. The cruise ship is lifted off the ground by buoyancy, and then moved from the existing position of the dock to the side near the dock by a towing rope. The entire buoyancy process takes about 6 to 8 hours, and due to the large size of the cruise ship, it is difficult to observe subtle positional changes with the naked eye. So during the process of floating, the staff installed many sensors on the ship, so that the entire ship's floating posture can be monitored in real time.
"Our team didn't sleep much all night and kept observing the data. This time, the float was smooth and stable, and the posture was very good." The next morning, an on-site staff member said, "The data is perfect. I can have a little rest tonight."
The water injection and floating displacement is the first step before the ship is docked. In the days from floating to docking, the Waigaoqiao cruise project team controls the dynamic position of the cruise ship through the shore traction machine, and carries out three key tests: inclination test, side door flushing test, lifeboat unhooking and cruising test, to verify the weight, center of gravity stability, and performance of the side door and lifeboat on a real ship.
The passing of these key tests also reflects that the Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Cruise Team has overcome the three core technologies of weight control, vibration reduction and noise reduction, and safe return to port that run through the entire lifecycle of the cruise ship, and has formed a series of technological innovation achievements.
Taking weight control as an example, most of the steel plates used in cruise ships are thin steel plates with a thickness of less than 8 millimeters, which is about the thickness of four 1 yuan coins stacked together. Although thin steel plates solve the problem of reducing weight for cruise ships, they are very prone to deformation during transportation and processing. Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding has built an intelligent thin plate production workshop, adopting the world's most advanced high-power laser composite welding production line for the first time, and applying robot welding technology to the assembly production process in ships for the first time. Through precise control of heat input and assembly accuracy in the welding process by machines, deformation in the production process is minimized to the greatest extent possible.
The relevant person in charge told the reporter that every aspect of cruise ship design, procurement, and production requires careful consideration. "All equipment on board the ship must be weighed before being put into storage, and the entire ship's weight will be calculated and estimated every quarter. The weight will be controlled through continuous and iterative control methods."
In addition to the weight of the ship itself, the distribution of heavy objects and the distribution of internal structural weight are also a subject of study. Because the center of gravity of a cruise ship must be controlled within a reasonable range, if it is too high, the hull is prone to overturning and safety is insufficient; If it is too low, the ship will be as light headed and heavy footed as a tumbler, and passengers on the upper deck will feel that the ship's sway during navigation is large and the comfort is insufficient.
The port flushing test is to inspect the sealing of the ship's hull. Industry insiders have introduced that the safety design concept of cruise ships has shifted from relying solely on lifeboats to making the ship itself a lifeboat. Even if there is water ingress or fire in the cabin, physical isolation can be used to control disasters within a small range. At the same time, the core facilities inside the ship also adopt redundant design, with two sets of engines arranged in different areas and independent of each other. Even if one of them encounters problems, it can ensure the normal operation of all necessary facilities on board, allowing the ship to safely return to work.
Of course, lifeboats are an indispensable facility. Xue Yabin, Deputy Director of the General Assembly Department of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, introduced that the first domestically produced large cruise ship was equipped with 20 lifeboats parked on the fourth deck. Each lifeboat is 13.35 meters long, about 5 meters wide, and about 4 meters high. Although it may not be large in size, due to its double-layer structure design, it can accommodate up to 314 people. More than 6000 people, including crew members and tourists, can board lifeboats on the entire ship.
"The cabinets inside the lifeboat store signal flares, emergency food, drinking water, etc., meeting the daily needs of all personnel during the rescue process. In order to ensure the safety of all personnel in case of emergencies, in addition to the lifeboat, rescue boats, safety rafts, and emergency escape devices are also equipped on the fourth deck." Xue Yabin said.
The internal space has taken shape
On June 3rd, the reporter entered the "Aida Modu" early to witness the interior decoration progress of the first domestically produced large cruise ship.
As a "maritime concentration city" made in China, the public area of domestic large cruise ships is equipped with a variety of leisure and entertainment facilities such as restaurants, theaters, water parks, gyms, basketball courts, etc., as well as the largest duty-free shop on the sea, the drama of Kaixin Fried Dough Twists, the marine exploration camp integrating artificial intelligence and STEAM courses, and 5G signal coverage
Although the corridor area inside the cruise ship is tightly wrapped, there is still a feeling of being "renovated". However, pushing open the doors, the interior can be said to have a unique hole. As of June 3rd, out of 2125 passenger rooms, 1000 rooms have basically completed internal decoration. As the reporter walked into a balcony room, he saw that sofas and bed frames were already in place, and although the restroom was small, it was also clean and tidy, with all kinds of equipment and facilities complete. It is reported that the overall decoration of the "Aida Magic City" guest rooms is Nordic style, with simple color tones; Its material selection can meet the highest level of comfort and fire safety standards of ships; The noise reduction value of the board and fireproof door reached 53 decibels.
In addition to the guest rooms, the crew and employee cafeteria have also been renovated. After work, these crew members can also order a beer at the bar and rest by looking out the window at the sea view. As for the passenger's restaurant, it is even more diverse, ranging from buffet, Western cuisine, Japanese cuisine, to hot pot, teppanyaki, and other restaurants with various styles.
The children's entertainment area, KTV area, and grand theater on board have also begun to take shape. The Grand Theater can accommodate more than 800 people, and the top decoration has been fully completed, while the audience seats are still being decorated.
It is worth mentioning that the medical center on board has also been renovated, with single, multiple rooms, and even an operating room equipped with basic surgical facilities for emergency response.
Wu Xiaoyuan, Deputy Manager of the Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Large Cruise Engineering Project, introduced that the interior decoration progress of the "Aida Magic City" ship has reached about 85%. Specifically, the ship's interior cabin wall panels, ceilings, ceiling lights, etc. have all been completed. Currently, the main work is to lay the ground, and the remaining soft decoration projects will be completed in the later stage. These remaining tasks will be completed in the post docking stage.
It is reported that in July, the first domestically produced large cruise ship will begin its first sea trial, which is expected to last for about 18 days, mainly to verify various functions related to cruise ship safety, such as power and propulsion systems, fire protection, fire alarm, lifesaving, communication and navigation. In August, the first domestically produced large cruise ship will begin its second trial voyage, mainly to verify whether the various facilities on board can meet the needs of tourists and crew.
