Asia/Pacific News
Chinese Order for Fuel-Saving Vessels
A majority state-owned Chinese company has ordered four fuel-saving ships with electronic fuel injection systems and efficient propeller designs from Tsuneishi Group Shipbuilding Inc., a Chinese overseas group company of Japan's Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (Tsuneishi), the shipbuilder said in a statement.
The four 1,020 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) ships were ordered by the Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co. Ltd. (SIPG).
The order is the first Tsuneishi has received for new ship construction from a Chinese state-owned company.
Two of the ships are scheduled for completion in 2016, and the other two in 2017.
Tsuneishi, which developed the ship design in 2011 to diversify its product line, said the vessels offer improvements regarding on-board ship noise and crew working environment, as well as the fuel-saving and emissions-reducing features.
The vessels will be operated by Shanghai Haihua Shipping Co. Ltd (HASCO), a member of SIPG Group that provides container transport from China to Japan and Southeast Asia.
"The high energy-saving performance of this ship model not only cuts operational costs for our maritime business, it is certain to contribute to environmental protection as well," SIPG officials said in the statement.
"In view of the TZS's latest shipbuilding equipment and processes and their quality control system, we feel that everyone is enthusiastic about building the vessels."
Tsuneishi has two shipbuilding operations in Japan and one in the Philippines, as well as the Tsuneishi Group Shipbuilding Inc. location in Xiushan Island, China, according to its website.
