The 85,000m3 Super-Large Ethane And Ethylene Carrier Is Proceeding Smoothly

On July 18th, the undock ceremony of the first 85000m3 super-large ethane and ethylene carrier built by DSIC for JHW Company and the opening ceremony of the second ship of the same type were held at DSIC successively. Jacques de Chateauvieux, the Chairman of Jaccar Group, Wang Jianping, the Executive Director of JHW Company, and Zhu Shengxun, the CEO of JHW Group, and the leaders of DSIC such as Yang Zhizhong and An Yumin attended the ceremonies. Guests from all walks of life including Energy Company, DNV GL Classification Society and Dalian Xizhong Island Petrochemical Industrial Park were invited to attend the ceremonies.

As the world's first ship of this type, the 85,000m3 super-large ethane and ethylene carrier has attracted much attention from the industry since its construction began in June 2017 due to its super-large capacity and high-tech content. The ship adopts dual-fuel low-speed main engine to directly drive the controllable-pitch propeller, and has created a number of the world’s No.1s: the world's first C-shape tank gas carrier with a loading capacity of 85,000m3, a single C-shape tank of the world's largest volume, and the first ethane and diesel dual-fuel low-speed main engine designed by MAN patent.

The lifting and installation of the C-shape tank is one of the key problems in the construction of the ship. Its engineering features such as large lifting weight, large volume, high installation precision and difficulty in epoxy resin casting have brought many difficulties to the installation works. The ship is equipped with four tanks, each has a capacity of 23100m3 and a weight of about 2,000 tons, which is the world’s largest C-shape tank. In order to solve the construction difficulties, DSIC worked together to overcome the difficulties. Through detailed calculation and analysis, and rigorous deduction and demonstration, the engineering documents such as lifting and installation operation procedures, cabin guiding auxiliary tooling, anti-collision plan, adjustment measures for installation precision, and epoxy resin casting process were successively formulated. We successfully completed all the lifting and installation works of C-shape tank after careful planning and organization. The installation effect was perfect and won high praise from the shipowner and the ship inspection authorities. Meanwhile, the main construction cycle of the first ship spanned the severe winter season, which raised a great test for project management. DSIC overcame a series of engineering technical difficulties, such as epoxy casting under severe cold weather, precision of liquefied cargo system closure, integral closure of the fore and the aft half ships after their respective undock, and installation of propulsion system with shaft belt machine and variable-pitch propeller. It took 13 months and finally the whole ship was launched from the dock.

The undock ceremony of the first ship and the opening ceremony of the second ship were held successively on the same day, which fully reflected the shipowner’s high trust in DSIC and their confidences in the bright prospect of ethane and ethylene transportation and the upstream and downstream industries as well. At the same time, the progress of the project as scheduled was also recognized by all the guests, marking a solid step forward in the structural adjustment of offshore projects of DSIC.