ABB announced that its turbochargers are powering the main engines and auxiliary engines of the largest containership ever built in China, a 20,000 TEU vessel named COSCO Shipping Taurus, launched in June 2017. A further ten vessels also for COSCO Shipping Lines will be applied with the same ABB turbocharger configuration. They will add to the company’s fleet of 311 containerships with a total capacity of 1.64 million TEU.
Each of the main engines will be equipped with three A180-L units, a two-stroke turbocharger, designed for large, marine diesel engines. The turbochargers are constructed to optimize fuel costs, increase efficiency and operational flexibility and to meet compliance with IMO Tier II emissions regulations with lowest fuel consumption. Moreover, the four auxiliary engines will each be fitted with a four-stroke TPL67-C turbocharger.
Following the unveiling of the ‘Made in China’ strategy by the China State Council in 2015, the Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT) last year published ‘The Action Plan for Improving the Marine Equipment Industry’s Capability (2016-2020)’. This outlined further the importance and the key tasks for developing China into a shipping and ship building powerhouse. The construction of these eleven new box ships represents continuing progress towards this significant goal.
Allan QingZhou Wang, Head of ABB Turbocharging China said: “This addition in tonnage to the world containership market underlines the high potential to achieve this goal of building China into a great power of shipping and shipbuilding in line with the MIIT ambition. At the same time ABB is recognizing and responding to market demand across Asia, by strengthening our foothold in China.”
COSCO Shipping Taurus is 400 meters long, with a width of 58.6 meters, and of the total 20,000 TEU it is equipped for 1,000 TEU of refrigerated capacity. The ship will operate routes from Asia to Europe.
