On September 30, the H1800A, a 174,000 cubic meter LNG ship built by Hudong-Zhonghua for the Qatar Energy “Hundred Ships Project,” successfully completed its “two-in-one” sea trial mission and safely berthed at Pier 3 of the western shipyard area, presenting a gift for the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival.
During the construction of this vessel, the project construction team steadily advanced lean management, set goals for improving the schedule of key projects, strictly controlled the production progress, and achieved the status for the cooling test and gas trial voyage within the second dock period. The construction team established a “3-day integrated plan” management model, which integrates the completed items from the previous day, the progress of the current day’s items, and the preview of the next day’s plan into a single schedule. This ensured tight project connections with no omissions, winning unanimous praise from the shipowner and ship surveyors, and also provided strong assurance for the successful completion of the “two-in-one” sea trial.
The sea trial project team scientifically coordinated, clearly defined divisions of labor, and assigned responsibilities to individuals, ensuring that all major test items were passed with high quality on the first attempt. Furthermore, the speed and maneuverability test results were better than the contractual indicators, and the vibration and noise test data far exceeded the design indicators. All conventional and gas-related sea trial items were completed before arriving at the gas station. During the gas station window period, the various test teams cooperated with a clear division of labor, completing all items during the gas station period—such as cold and hot ESD, LNG /unloading, cargo tank stripping, ECOBT, etc.—in less than 20 hours. At 16:00 on September 28, cargo tank warming commenced immediately upon departure from the gas station, achieving seamless transition between different test phases.
The complete success of the sea trial has provided the Final Assembly No. 3 Department with valuable experience in the “two-in-one” sea trials for LNG carriers, leading to an overall enhancement of capabilities.
It is understood that this ship type is the fifth-generation “Changheng Series” 174,000 cubic meter LNG carrier independently developed and designed by Hudong-Zhonghua. It integrates the latest design concepts, optimal technical equipment, strongest environmental performance, greatest foresight, and the essence of the company’s previous generations of LNG ship designs. The ship has an overall length of 299.00 meters, a molded breadth of 46.40 meters, a molded depth of 26.25 meters, and a design draft of 11.50 meters. It adopts an efficient low-speed dual-fuel diesel engine direct drive system and is equipped with the GTT NO.96 membrane-type cargo containment system.
This ship type is custom-built according to the technical standards formed by Qatar Energy Company’s currently operating world’s largest LNG fleet. It features the latest generation twin-skeg hull form and is equipped with multiple low-carbon and digital technologies. Its advantages include excellent speed performance with low voyage emissions; high level of advancement and strong global versatility; light lightweight with strong cargo capacity; and flexible boil-off gas management with strong route adaptability.
