The delivery and Naming Ceremony of the vessel ‘T300K-100’ of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd (DSIC) was held on September 24,2022. 

The 307,000 dwt vessel named New Aden is one of the most advanced VLCCs ever built in China, says China Classification Society (CCS). 

Built for China Merchant Energy Shipping Co, the New Aden is equipped with two pairs of carbon fibre composite rigid wing sails which were developed by DSIC’s R&D team, CCS and Guangwei Composite Materials Co., Ltd. 

The sails are 40 metres high with a combined area of about 1200 square metres and are expected to reduce average fuel consumption by nearly 10% on the Middle East to the Far East route, cutting an estimated 2,900 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year. 

The designed draft of the VLCC is 20.5 metres. It meets requirements of Harmonized Common Structural Rules (HCSR), the latest oxynitride and oxysulfide emission standards, Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI), the EU Inventory of Hazardous Materials and ship recycling and the latest requirements given by major oil giants.

“The New Aden is an outstanding vessel which embraces the very latest design techniques as we work towards meeting the IMO GHG targets,” said CCS vice president Fan Qiang, adding: “China Merchants, Dalian Shipbuilding’s R&D team and Guangwei Composite Materials have undertaken great work in developing the ship and this new generation of rigid wing sail.” 

The new vessel follows China Merchants’ experience with DSIC in 2018 when two rigid sails were fitted on the VLCC New Vitality.

With files from CCS