Last year, nearly 50% of China's new shipbuilding orders were for green ships, reaching a historic high

The shipbuilding industry is the culmination of modern industry, demonstrating a country's comprehensive industrial strength. China is the world's largest shipbuilding country, with new green powered ship orders accounting for 49.1% of the total orders in 2022, reaching a historic high. As of the end of June this year, green ships from shipyards such as Jiangnan Shipbuilding and Hudong Zhonghua under China Shipbuilding Group accounted for over 90% of orders.

CCTV reporter Meng Zhandong: A 13000 box dual fuel container ship from China Shipyard Shanghai East China Shipyard not only uses traditional petroleum fuel, but also introduces liquefied natural gas, which can directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 28%. In addition, the bow of the ship has a unique design, which is a green windproof hood, affectionately referred to by workers as the "Green Headed Monster". This design can reduce fuel consumption by about 2% for ships during normal operation.

The reporter learned that the bow wind shield is a new design that has emerged in the past two years, which can effectively reduce the wind resistance of ships during operation and achieve carbon emissions reduction by reducing fuel consumption. Apart from this new design, other aspects of this ship are also not simple.

Yuan Hongliang, Chief Technical Expert of China Shipbuilding Shanghai East China Container Ship: One is that we are optimizing the performance of the ship through fluid dynamics CFD software; Bubble drag reduction technology has also been used on existing ships, making it energy-efficient.

The transformation towards green and low-carbon is precisely the driving force of China's shipbuilding industry today. It is not uncommon to see ships powered by liquefied natural gas, and ships powered by green fuels such as methanol, hydrogen, and ammonia are also being developed.

Chen Jun, General Manager of China Shipbuilding Shanghai East China: We have taken on over 20 billion yuan of orders this year, with over 90% of them being green power. We have also developed container ships powered by methanol.

CCTV reporter Meng Zhandong: Green ships are not only reflected in power, but also in various aspects of design and construction. In the past, during the design phase, 2D drawings were often presented, and many details were overlooked. In a 3D exhibition hall of the Jiangnan Shipbuilding Digital Shipbuilding Laboratory, as long as you wear 3D glasses, you can immerse yourself in watching many subtle aspects of the design.

Due to the complexity of traditional 2D drawings, pipeline interference may occur during ship construction, requiring rework and modification. This unnecessary rework typically accounts for over 10% of the shipbuilding cycle. After adopting 3D modeling design, shipowners and construction personnel can have a more intuitive understanding of the drawings and complete the design and construction.

Wang Jie, the digital design supervisor of China Shipbuilding Jiangnan Shipbuilding: The ship behind me, Hai Xun 160, is the first paperless construction ship. The use of 3D modeling technology has shortened its entire manufacturing time by 60 days.

The application of digital energy-saving methods goes far beyond that. Container ships, due to their segmented construction, used to require the container to be lifted into all container positions for measurement accuracy after the hull was closed. However, now all data can be obtained by establishing a 3D model by scanning the ship's container positions with equipment.

Zhou Qinghua, Director of China Shipbuilding Jiangnan Shipbuilding Development and Research Institute: The path of green and high-quality development is a necessary path. We have adopted the research and development of green ships for the R&D end, reducing carbon emissions during the manufacturing process and calculating carbon emissions throughout the entire industry chain.

From January to May this year, China completed 16.47 million deadweight tons of shipbuilding, a year-on-year increase of 15.4%. Undertaking new ship orders of 26.45 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 49.5%. At the end of May, handheld ship orders reached 117.99 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 15.5%. The concept of green ships is gradually penetrating the entire process of ship design and construction, becoming a resounding business card of China's shipbuilding industry.