Shanghai: Hamburg’s Technolog has sold China's state-run SUMEC Marine licenses for the manufacture of a family of LNG-fuelled containerships with capacities ranging from 3,500 teu to 5,000 teu. SUMEC will now promote the design to the top ten shipbuilders in Jiangsu province.
The containerships have a new container storage system that dispenses with hatch covers while the fuelling system can use either fixed or mobile tanks or a combination.
The patented hatchless container storage system has a stopper element that absorbs the weight of the upper container layers, so that the pressure on the lower containers does not become excessive and cause container collapse. Technolog says that this means that container tiers can be piled twice as high as in the past, even without the help of cell guides. The system makes it possible for standard 20 or 40 foot containers to be loaded or unloaded one stack at a time, and containers of abnormal width or length can be handled with equal ease. A special ventilation system enables nearly all 40-foot slots in the hold and up to three layers on deck to be used to stow refrigerated containers. [07/06/13]
