World's largest China-built con-ro vessel set for debut
Time：2015-11-18
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The Chinese-built Atlantic Star, ranked as the world`s largest combination (con-ro) vessel, is set for service entry this month on the North Atlantic`s weekly service linking North America`s eastern seaboard with northern Europe. The vessel has the added distinction of embodying a fundamentally different cargo-carrying configuration to that hitherto employed in con-ro ships.
The design thinking encapsulated by the project underscores a commitment to innovation that has permeated the 50-year history of ACL, wholly-owned by Italian ro-ro specialist Grimaldi since 2007, the Motorship reported.
The transatlantic operation caters for containers, project and oversized cargo, heavy equipment, all types of vehicles, block-stowed general cargo and hazardous goods.
Following final-round bidding against two other Chinese yards and two South Korean contenders, New Jersey-based ACL awarded the contract for five G4 (Generation 4) newbuilds to Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in 2012.
Construction was entrusted to the state-owned company`s new yard on Changxing Island, near Shanghai. The entire series is expected to be in commission by mid-2016, replacing the operator`s G3 con-ros dating from 1984/85.
The G4 configuration departs from design practice by concentrating ro-ro freight amidships, while the containers are stowed in raised cells fore and aft of the ro-ro section in a partly open-top arrangement. This results in better utilisation of the hull envelope and optimisation of deadweight for cargo, since the need for ballast water is minimised.
Even with full cargo payloads, the G3s have to take on ballast, but the ballast requirement on full sailings with the G4s will be zero. Cargo effectively replaces conventional ballast. The innovative design approach was the brainchild of International Maritime Advisors (IMA), domiciled in Dragoer, Denmark.