On 14 October, Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd. (DACKS) successfully delivered its fourth 309,000 DWT LNG dual-fuel VLCC for an overseas shipowner. The vessel has since departed on her maiden voyage.
During the vessel’s construction, DACKS focused closely on key technical challenges—such as the installation of LNG spherical tanks and the commissioning of the dual-fuel system—while continuously refining construction processes to ensure steady improvements in build quality. The vessel outperformed similar ships across all key performance indicators and, for the first time, achieved a “zero-comment” outcome during its gas-trial phase.
DACKS stated that, compared to the first vessel, the dry-dock period was shortened by 38 working days, the commissioning period was reduced by 18 working days, and total shipbuilding hours were reduced by 9 percent. In particular, after optimizing the LNG bunkering process, the bunkering cycle was shortened by 40 hours, saving more than 400,000 yuan per bunkering operation; Through innovative measures, oil and gas sea trials were successfully completed in a single round, reducing the sea trial period by 4 days and saving nearly 2 million yuan in shipbuilding costs per vessel, thereby establishing a new production model characterized by large-scale, standardized, and low-cost batch construction.