GL Contracts 60th Ship with Chinese Yard

A 19,800 dwt stainless steel chemical tanker vessel is the 60th ship being built with Germanischer Lloyd class at Qingshan Shipyard. The 10th anniversary of close cooperation between Qingshan Shipyard and Germanischer Lloyd is being celebrated on August 3 with a ceremony attended by more than 100 guests. Participants include the President of Chang Jiang Shipping Group Liu Xihan, the Vice Governor of Hubei Province Li Chunming, the Vice Mayor of Wuhan City Yue Yong and other representatives of local government and authorities. 27 vessels have been delivered since 1996, 33 ships are under construction and on order. In total, more than 750,000 dwt have been constructed with GL class at Qingshan Shipyard. Qingshan Shipyard has 3,800 employees and is located at the Yangzi River in Wuhan. As part of the Changjiang National Shipping Group the shipyard can build up to seven vessels of up to 50,000 dwt and 220 m length simultaneously. Qingshan Shipyard is the biggest ship export base in the province, its main exports include oil and chemical tankers of up to 50,000 dwt. The relationship between Germanischer Lloyd and Qingshan Shipyard started with the construction of four 818 TEU multi-purpose vessels with 9,000 GT for a German owner; the first ship was delivered in 1996. Qingshan Shipyard has built many multi-purpose vessels of 5,000 GT. As the first shipyard in China the yard has constructed chemical/product tankers with 18,500 dwt duplex stainless steel cargo tanks. Since 1996, Germanischer Lloyd has inspected and provided service for many vessels built at Qingshan Shipyard, such as the 818 TEU series, 502 TEU series, 660 TEU, 1100 TEU container vessel series, 12000dwt bulk cargo carrier series and 18500dwt chemical products tankers series. The delivery rate of Qingshan Shipyard has improved rapidly from two vessels per year in to more than eight vessels in 2006.