On June 20, the first 93,000 cbm Very Large Ammonia Carrier (VLAC) built by Jiangnan Shipyard—a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation—for AW successfully completed its sea trials.
During this sea trial, the first domestically produced liquid cargo system—independently integrated by Jiangnan Heavy Industry—successfully completed all test tasks, marking a new milestone in the company’s capability to independently integrate liquid cargo systems.
This liquid cargo system was jointly designed by Jiangnan Heavy Industry and the Jiangnan Research Institute. It underwent systematic optimization and upgrades benchmarked against internationally advanced products and was manufactured entirely in-house throughout the entire process. This move has effectively broken the long-standing foreign technological monopoly in this field, further strengthened China’s self-reliance in core supporting equipment for large liquefied gas carriers, and made a significant contribution to advancing the localization of high-end ship equipment.
During the test run, the system successfully provided a continuous and stable gas supply to the main unit for 8 hours. Throughout this continuous operation, key parameters such as pressure and temperature in the main unit’s gas-fired mode remained stable and reliable, and were essentially consistent with the simulation data, fully validating the soundness of the system design and the reliability of its manufacturing quality.
Jiangnan Heavy Industry stated that the successful sea trials of the liquid cargo system on the first 93,000 cbm VLAC not only mark a key breakthrough for the company on the path to independent development of liquid cargo systems, but also represent an important step forward for China’s shipbuilding industry in advancing toward high-end capabilities in the field of green alternative energy transport equipment.