China’s first 20,000 TEU containership delivered to Cosco Shipping
On January 16, “Cosco Shipping Aries”, China’s first 20,000 TEU containership with proprietary IPRs built by Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd. (NACKS) affiliated to Cosco Shipping, was named and delivered in Nantong. It is the first 20,000 TEU containership built by NACKS for Cosco Shipping Lines as well as another masterpiece after the 13,386 TEU containership independently designed by the company in 2013. The new vessel not only breaks the record of the largest containership delivered in China, but also signifies that Cosco Shippimg Heavy Industry has remained at the forefront in the world in the building of ultra large containerships.
“Cosco Shipping Aries” is the largest and most advanced containership delivered by a Chinese shipyard to date. Known as “Sea Castle”, it is the one of the longest vessels in the world, with an overall length of 400 meters, molded beam and depth of 58.6 and 30.7 meters, maximum deadweight of 197,000 tons, and a deck area larger than four standard soccer fields. The design of this vessel, a model of next-generation ULCS, embraces the philosophy of environmental protection. It is fitted with an intelligent ship energy efficiency system and offers advantages in low fuel consumption, large capacity, high intelligence and strong port worthiness.
Its carrying capacity, operating speed and safety performance are among the top worldwide while its energy consumption is far less than its peers, and energy efficiency index about 50% lower than the industry benchmark, meeting the international emission standard in a decade. An LNG system is reserved on board for the future conversion of large-capacity LNG bunker serving in specific routes.
On January 19, “Cosco Shipping Aries” was planned to serve in the route from the Far East to Northwest Europe as the first 20,000 TEU containership in the fleet of Cosco Shipping Lines, strongly boosting the company’s efforts to optimize its global liner network and container transportation services. The port rotation of the Far East to Northwest Europe loop is reported to be Piraeus (Greece), Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Hamburg (Germany), offering rapid and trusted direct shipping service from North China, East China and Southeast Asia to Greece and major northwestern European countries.
In addition, by virtue of the huge and effective feeder networks, such route can be linked with Turkey, the Adriatic Sea, the Black Sea, the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa via the Port of Piraeus, providing customers with convenient, rapid services. With Piraeus as a pivot, it may extend services via the China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line to landlocked countries in Central Europe and on the Balkan Peninsula by means of multimodal transport.