On July 22, 2022, the “cloud” naming and delivery ceremony for BOKM GUAIBA, a 325,000 DWT VLOC ore carrier was held, and the ship was built by CSSC Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. for Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (Bocomm Leasing) and Korean KMARIN and surveyed by China Classification Society (CCS). The smooth delivery of this ship marked the successful completion of the 325,000 DWT ore carrier series project contracted to be built by the shipyard for Bocomm Leasing and Korean Bocomm KMARIN.

The ship has a total length of 339.9 m, molded breadth of 62.0 m, molded depth of 29.5 m, scantling draft of 21.4 m, and cruising range 25,500 nautical miles. It has the capability of 100% quick loading with just one step for each individual cargo tank and the average loading rate is 16,000 tons per hour. The visual field of the driving cab, the arrangement of the control panel and equipment and other aspects can ensure the safe navigation and manipulation of the ship driven by just one person. Being energy-saving, high-efficiency and reliable, the ship has been granted with the notations of natural gas-fueled system presetting and stress monitoring, and it shows excellent performance in green, environmental protection, energy conservation, and safety.

Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding and Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding built totally eight 325,000 DWT VLOC ships for Bocomm Leasing and Korean KMARIN, respectively. In this project, CCS cooperated with the Korean shipowner for the first time. In order to ensure high-quality management, survey and services, the CCS Headquarters established a general project team for the 325,000 DWT VLOC. The project team followed the requirements of the CCS key project management guidance, implemented the principle of serving for the whole ship life cycle, continuously provided value-added technical services, carried out technological communication with the customer for several times, and invited NDT (nondestructive test) experts to adopt TOFD and other advanced fault detection techniques to fulfill the special welding quality inspection.

In the survey of this series of ships, CCS Qingdao Branch field project team proposed the “in-advance, risk-prevention, proactive and service-oriented” survey mode, planned elaborately, and implemented carefully. The project team provided the customer with technological support in multiple forms including the verification of production and design drawings and the communication about difficult technologies. Their considerate service and professional technological capability were recognized and appreciated by the ship management company.

In recent years, CCS Qingdao Branch has implemented building survey for nearly twenty 400,000 DWT and 325,000 DWT ore carriers, totaling 3,400,000 DWT, which makes the Branch become the main building and survey base of ore carriers in China. CCS Qingdao Branch leverages their technologies, provides high-quality efficient services, and makes all efforts in their work. It actively coordinates with ship builders in each task, dives deeply into the industry, provides good services for customers continuously, and builds an excellent powerful ore carrier fleet. It has gained distinctive advantages and formed a unique brand in the field of ship building and survey, and won high praise from customers and the industrial community.