Celebrating 150 years in China: Lloyd’s Register at Marintec 2019

The drive for energy efficiency, digitalisation and decarbonisation were given significant airtime at Marintec 2019 last week with Lloyd’s Register (LR) issuing a range of Approval in Principles (AiPs) to leading maritime companies for bulk carrier, container ship and tanker designs.

Reducing carbon emissions took centre stage at Marintec 2019, with LR awarding AiPs to Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (SWS), Norsepower Oy Ltd and Silverstream Technologies (UK) Ltd. for its energy efficient 300,000 dead weight tonne (DWT) dual fuel Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) tanker and to Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI) for its 180,000 DWT zero carbon bulk carrier.

With digitalisation a key trend throughout the week, LR issued Digital Twin READY approval for a smart-vessel operation and maintenance system (SOMS) jointly developed by the CSSC Systems Engineering Research Institute (SERI) and ZhenDui Industrial Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd. (ZDIAI).

Dongjun Wang, Secretary of the Party Committee, SERI, said after receiving the award:  
"Both SERI and LR believe digital twins are important to the digitalisation, networking and intelligence of ships, as well as the development of relevant standards and guidelines which will also promote the development of smart ships. The first intelligent system for a ship, SOMS, has been successfully developed.

Through the collaborative application of a ship-based system, a shore-based service and a ship-shore communication, an intelligent service mode of ship-shore integration and automatic data flow has been formed, which can effectively improve safety, reliability, economy, efficiency and environmental protection of ship operation. We are honoured to receive the Digital Twin READY approval from Lloyd’s Register, which represents our further successful exploration and practice in the direction of smart ships with the class society, another milestone in our cooperation."

LR also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China’s biggest shipbuilding group, China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), to jointly study, research and develop marine equipment and technology. 

LR issued China Merchants Energy Shipping Co., Ltd. (CMES), CNOOC Gas and Power Group, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. (DSIC), and Gaztransport and Technigaz SA (GTT) with AiP for the development of the first efficient LNG-fuelled VLCC, announced earlier this week.

Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC) received a trio of AiPs from LR for its 113,000 DWT dual fuel aframax tanker, 158,000 DWT dual fuel suezmax tanker and its 300,000 DWT dual fuel VLCC tanker.

Among those receiving AiPs were SWS, Anemoi Marine Technologies Ltd. and Silverstream Technologies (UK) Ltd. for an energy efficient 180,000 DWT dual fuel capesize bulk carrier design.

A second bulk carrier AiP was given to Penglai Zhoushan Jinglu Ship Industry Co., Ltd., China Ship Scientific Research Center (CSSRC) and CSIC Shanghai Marine Energy Saving Technology Development Co., Ltd. for their energy efficient 88,000 DWT bulk carrier. Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI) also received AiP for its 180,000 DWT zero carbon bulk carrier design.

LR also awarded AiP to COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry Co., Ltd (COSCO Zhoushan) for its duel fuel aframax tanker and DSIC for its 175,000m³ LNG carrier.

Mark Darley, LR’s North Asia President, said: “We are very privileged to have worked in China for 150 years, creating strong partnerships with customers across the supply chain to solve challenges through innovation. This is evident through the range of AiPs we granted last week on future-focused designs which will in time transform the shipping industry. I hope this success continues as we support our customers through mega trends such as digitalisation and decarbonisation.”