China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Weihai has started building the first out of six LNG-powered pure car and truck carriers for Idan Ofer’s Eastern Pacific Shipping.
To mark the construction start, the yard held a steel-cutting ceremony on August 15 for the vessel with a working name W0300, according to a statement.
The six vessels will have a capacity of 7000 units, 199.9 meters in length, and a designed draft of 8.6 meters.
With a gross tonnage of 72,000, they would have a designed speed of 19.5 knots and 12 cargo decks in total, according to CMI Weihai.
Also, these PCTCs would feature a high-pressure dual-fuel engine and two sets of 2000-cbm LNG storage tanks, it said.
Earlier this year, EPS placed an order for two of these LNG-powered PCTCs, boosting the total to six vessels.
EPS has also LNG-powered PCTCs on order at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Jiangsu.
According to the EPS website, the firm will take delivery of 12 LNG-powered PCTCs during 2023-2025.