Dual-classed UCLS trio for COSCO

The vessels, dual classed by DNV GL and by China Classification Society, will be deployed in the transatlantic trade, With capacities of 20,000-plus teu, the vessels will feature route-specific container stowage (RSCS) from DNV GL, giving more flexibility for laden containers onboard for specific routes.

The boxships will be built ‘gas ready’, giving COSCO an easier path to potential retrofitting of LNG-fuelled propulsion in the future. Designed by the Marine Design & Research Institute of China (MARIC), they will feature double hull protection of fuel tanks, ballast water treatment systems and will meet the highest Energy Efficient Design Index and Emission Control Areas standards.

DNV GL said it would work with its customers to work realise “an optimized and advanced design with high operational reliability in terms of motion, global strength, whipping and springing, noise and vibration and the shafting system”.

Jan-Olaf Probst, head of business development Hamburg, DNV GL, said: “This contract is another milestone in China’s evolution into one of the world’s leading shipbuilding nations. SWS has been on a very strong development path and has consistently been one of the top Chinese yards in terms of efficiency and innovation, so it is only fitting that they are the first yard to top the 20,000 TEU mark in China.”