Guangzhou Shipyard International, the biggest shipbuilder in South China, is celebrating ‘a high watermark’ in its history after delivering two of the world’s most innovative ships this week.

The new vessels leaving the famous GSI shipyard, part of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, are the 274m, 157,300 DWT ‘Greenway’ the world’s first LNG dual fuel Suezmax tanker built for Singapore headquartered shipowner Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte. Ltd.  The second newbuilding is the 49,990dwt tanker Stena Pro Marine  the second methanol-fuelled ship ever built in China following the delivery of its sister ship the Stena Pro Patria earlier in June. The ship was handed over to Proman Stena Bulk, a joint venture between Sweden’s Stena Bulk AB and Switzerland-headquartered Proman. Another sister vessel is due to be delivered later this year and three more have been ordered to the same design.

GSI vice president William Zhou said delivering the vessels is a high watermark for the company in building state-of-the-art alternative fuelled ships.

“This is one of the best periods in GSI’s history,” he said. “I would like to pay tribute to all our team and suppliers here at GSI who have worked so hard with our clients Eastern Pacific and Stena Proman to deliver these magnificent ground-breaking vessels. The building of the ships sends a hugely positive message to the international maritime industry that GSI shipyard is at the cutting edge of building alternative fuelled ships. These are some of the most innovative propulsion systems in the world and we are proud to be changing the shipping industry for the better, working with our customers, to help make shipping greener. It is our passion and we are driven to play our role in leading the future of green propulsion building some of the biggest ships in the world right here in China.”

Mr Zhou said GSI has already established itself as a prolific builder of dual-fuelled ships, with 32 among its references, including its current orderbook. However, although he said the company has gained experience from building LNG- ships, he said building the first methanol-fuelled ships and the first dual fuel suezmax “is an incredible achievement for us.”

Mr Zhou said when the Greenway is propelled in LNG mode, it can reduce carbon dioxide emissions about 23 per cent, nitrogen oxide emissions about 90 per cent, and particulate matter and sulfur oxide emissions by 99 per cent. He said the engine is a MAN B&W 6G70ME-C10.5-GI HPSCR(Tier III) and is driven by a high pressure LNG system with fuel gas piping design pressure up to 350bar, and test pressure up to 525bar.

Mr Zhou said the Stena Proman fleet ships can go a long way to showcasing how methanol can be deployed safely and at low cost.

“The systems are less complicated than those of LNG and LPG-fuelled vessels,” he said. “As soon as classification societies drafted rules on using methanol as fuel, GSI began to get involved and it is wonderful to see the first two ships built and delivered. We did a huge amount of research on methanol in advance of this project communicating with equipment manufacturers and class. We expect to see many more shipyards embracing methanol ships now, but we are very proud to be one of the first. Again I would like to thank Proman, Stena, our team, MAN engines as well as the class society DNV for all they are doing to make this bold ship design and fleet a reality.”

Mr Zhou said GSI will continue its drive to embrace the future of fuels supported by a new team of 100 of the ‘brightest and best’ young graduates just recruited to work in the GSI owned Marine and Technology Research Centre. The new centre was set up in March in the Nansha District of Guangzhou, an area known for high-tech investment.

“We have some of the best shipbuilding facilities in the world at GSI and we are constantly looking to strengthen our infrastructure and most importantly our team,” he said. “We want to become the best in the world at building green ships and we want to work with more ship owners in Europe, Asia and around the world committed to decarbonising. Our team is looking at not just methanol but also ammonia, bio-methane and hydrogen. We believe these will all have their place in the future and GSI is at the cutting edge of developing these technologies, having secured AIPs [approvals in principle] from class societies.”

GSI has built, or is building, a total of 32 dual fuel ships including two LNG propulsion ropax vessels, two LNG propulsion Suez tankers, 14 LNG propulsion LR2 tankers, eight LNG propulsion PCTCs and six methanol propulsion MR tankers. More projects are under discussion.

GSI shipyard covers an area of three million square meters, with two large docks, four berths, one 900-ton gantry crane and four 600-ton gantry cranes.