China's Hubei Zhijiang Shengmao Shipbuilding recently handed over a new inland cargo vessel powered by LNG and fitted with intelligent systems.
Zhanghang Huoyun 005 ("Changhang Cargo 005") has an LOA of 129.98 metres, a beam of 16.2 metres, a depth of 7.2 metres, and a cargo capacity of 9,706 tonnes. Construction was completed in compliance with China Classification Society (CCS) rules.
The vessel's main engine runs entirely on LNG. CCS said this ensures the vessel generates 20 per cent fewer CO2 emissions and nearly 100 per cent SOx and NOX emissions compared to ships fitted with diesel engines.
The ship has obtained CCS' i-Ship (N, Mm) notation, which indicates compliance with intelligent ship requirements. The notable equipment includes an enhanced perception and safety assisted navigation system that integrates sensor data gathered by the vessel's cameras, GPS, AIS, compasses, radar, and depth sounder.
The system displays navigation information and helps improve the navigation safety even under unfavourable external environmental conditions such as bad weather and high vessel traffic volumes.
Engine room data are collected and transferred to a dedicated data centre via ethernet connection. This then enables operators to monitor and analyse fuel consumption and to properly schedule maintenance of the main engine and related machinery.