New Gaolan boxship strengthens domestic market

The newly built 40,000-ton domestic-trade container carrier Zhong Gu Zhu Hai left the Jinling Shipyard in Yizheng on March 6 to begin service at Gaolan Port.

Jinling Shipyard is a shipbuilding arm of CSC Sinotrans situated in both Yizheng and Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. Last year, it signed a contract with Shanghai-based Zhonggu Shipping for four container ships, including the one for Zhuhai. The boxships, all slated for March delivery, were designed with the latest energy-saving features. They have optimized streamlining, unmanned cabins, high efficiency, and environmentally friendly designs.

Each ship has an overall length of 180 m, width of 32.2 m and depth of 16.2 m. The Zhong Gu Zhu Hai can carry up to 2,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) at a time. Its addition will increase the business capability of Shanghai Zhonggu Shipping Group.

Zhonggu Shipping was rated 18th in a global container ship TEU capacity ranking released by Paris-based shipping consultant Alphaliner last December. The company ranked second in terms of capacity of container ships in domestic trade.

New boxship for Gaolan Port [Photo provided by Gaolan Port]

The group was the first domestic-trade container shipper to use Gaolan after the port began such operations. It was also the first to develop a scheduled route utilizing large vessels. Based on its success, the group expanded business by initiating transit services on the Xijiang River and launching Zhuhai Port's first rail-sea transport routes.

Cargo throughput of Gaolan Port tripled to exceed 100 million tons as of Oct 28, 2017, with its share of all Zhuhai ports going from 30 percent to 90 percent. This was the biggest breakthrough since Zhuhai Port became a 100-million-ton powerhouse in 2013.