THIS year has seen a number of remarkable vessels enter the scene, either for their sophisticated use of technology, sheer size, or a combination of the two, says Colchester's Seatrade Maritime News.
It highlighted the 7,500-cubic metre capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker tanker Kairo, the world's largest, that was delivered by Hyundai Mipo dockyard in the latter part of 2018, but was not christened till February this year in Germany. The ice-class LNG bunker supply vessel was commissioned in Hamburg.
Vast in scale and capability, the SSCV Sleipnir is a new-generation semi-submersible crane vessel with a pair of revolving cranes that can lift 20,000 tonnes in tandem - no other existing crane vessel has this capability
Sleepnir built at SembCorp Marine in Singapore for Heerema Marine Contractors made its debut in May. Named after Norse God Odin's eight-legged stallion, the Sleepnir is designed to instal or decommission offshore structures globally.
The world's largest box ship is now the 23,756-TEU MSC Gulsun that took to the water in August. It is the first in a series of sisterships they are regularly breaking records for being the largest containerships to call at ports in Asia and Europe.
September saw the launch of the first of CMA CGM's 23,000-TEU liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered containerships at Shanghai Jiangnan-Changxing shipyard. The first of nine such ships sees the French shipping group making a major commitment to LNG as the marine fuel of the future. The vessels are being deployed on the Asia-North Europe trade.
The Suiso Frontier was launched by Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries in December. Hydrogen produced from coal in Australia will be shipped to Japan on Suiso Frontier in technology demonstration. Although launched, the vessel is not yet complete and installation of its hydrogen tank will not be completed until late 2020.
Certainly not the biggest vessel on the list, the Jin Dou Yun 0 Hao launched in November would be easily missed. Developed by Yunzhou Tech, a Zhuhai-based technology company, in collaboration with Zhuhai municipal government, Wuhan University of Technology and CCS, the vessel is China's first autonomous cargo ship.
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It highlighted the 7,500-cubic metre capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker tanker Kairo, the world's largest, that was delivered by Hyundai Mipo dockyard in the latter part of 2018, but was not christened till February this year in Germany. The ice-class LNG bunker supply vessel was commissioned in Hamburg.
Vast in scale and capability, the SSCV Sleipnir is a new-generation semi-submersible crane vessel with a pair of revolving cranes that can lift 20,000 tonnes in tandem - no other existing crane vessel has this capability
Sleepnir built at SembCorp Marine in Singapore for Heerema Marine Contractors made its debut in May. Named after Norse God Odin's eight-legged stallion, the Sleepnir is designed to instal or decommission offshore structures globally.
The world's largest box ship is now the 23,756-TEU MSC Gulsun that took to the water in August. It is the first in a series of sisterships they are regularly breaking records for being the largest containerships to call at ports in Asia and Europe.
September saw the launch of the first of CMA CGM's 23,000-TEU liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered containerships at Shanghai Jiangnan-Changxing shipyard. The first of nine such ships sees the French shipping group making a major commitment to LNG as the marine fuel of the future. The vessels are being deployed on the Asia-North Europe trade.
The Suiso Frontier was launched by Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries in December. Hydrogen produced from coal in Australia will be shipped to Japan on Suiso Frontier in technology demonstration. Although launched, the vessel is not yet complete and installation of its hydrogen tank will not be completed until late 2020.
Certainly not the biggest vessel on the list, the Jin Dou Yun 0 Hao launched in November would be easily missed. Developed by Yunzhou Tech, a Zhuhai-based technology company, in collaboration with Zhuhai municipal government, Wuhan University of Technology and CCS, the vessel is China's first autonomous cargo ship.
WORLD SHIPPING