On the morning of February 18, a milestone vessel, the "COSCO Shipping Yangpu," successfully held its naming ceremony in Yangzhou. This 16,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel container ship is not only a significant breakthrough for COSCO Shipping Group in advancing green and low-carbon strategic emerging industries and accelerating the construction of a new energy-fueled fleet but also an important milestone in the green transformation of China's shipping industry.
The "COSCO Shipping Yangpu," meticulously built by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou), is the first methanol dual-fuel container ship under COSCO Shipping Holdings. With a total length of 366 meters, a beam of 51 meters, and a maximum container capacity of 16,136 TEU, the vessel integrates technological innovation, green and low-carbon features, and digital intelligence. It serves as a critical link in COSCO Shipping's efforts to meet the demands of green shipping corridors and establish a green methanol industry chain.
Particularly noteworthy is the "COSCO Shipping Yangpu," equipped with an ultra-large methanol storage tank, enabling it to complete a trans-Pacific voyage in "pure methanol mode." This feature opens up new pathways for global shipping's green optimization. Upon delivery to COSCO Shipping Lines for its East Coast of North America route, the vessel will provide robust support for the green transformation of the global shipping industry.
With the support of an intelligent ship system, the "COSCO Shipping Yangpu" demonstrates outstanding performance in energy consumption and green low-carbon energy-saving metrics, showcasing exceptional energy utilization efficiency and setting a new benchmark for energy conservation and emission reduction in the shipping industry. Methanol, as a green and low-carbon fuel, offers advantages such as being free of nitrogen oxides and sulfur, low PM emissions, relatively small technical modification challenges, convenient storage and usage, low operation and maintenance costs, high safety, and stable market price fluctuations, making it an ideal choice for the shipping industry's decarbonization efforts.
During the design and construction of the "COSCO Shipping Yangpu," COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry addressed technical challenges associated with methanol fuel applications by establishing 163 research topics, producing over 200 specialized research reports, and filing and processing 31 invention patents. During the first methanol fuel bunkering process, China Marine Bunker Jiangsu Company collaborated closely with COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou) to develop the country's first "terminal tank truck methanol bunkering design plan" for large container ships, which received a principle approval certificate from the China Classification Society, further advancing green and low-carbon ecological innovation.
With the construction of a series of new vessels and the retrofitting of existing ones by COSCO Shipping Holdings, the proportion of new energy and clean energy vessels in COSCO Shipping's container fleet is steadily increasing. In the future, COSCO Shipping will continue to align with the industry's green and low-carbon development trends, inject green momentum into high-quality development, and persistently contribute to the shipping industry's decarbonization efforts.
