A Promising Start to the New Year: Two Vessels Depart Shipyard as the 22,000-Cubic-Meter Ethylene Carrier Series Successfully Concludes

A Promising Start to the New Year: Two Vessels Leave the Shipyard as the 22,000-Cubic-Meter Ethylene Carrier Series Successfully Concludes

Recently, two liquefied ethylene gas carriers (LEGCs) built by Jiangnan Shipyard, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), for Petredec were successively signed off and departed the shipyard. Both vessels were delivered ahead of schedule.

With this milestone, all four 22,000-cubic-meter ethylene carriers built by Jiangnan Shipyard for Petredec have been successfully delivered, marking the completion of the entire series.

Vessel Overview

The vessels have an overall length of 159.9 meters, a molded breadth of 25.6 meters, and a molded depth of 16.5 meters. Three Type-C bi-lobe tanks with a design temperature of -104°C are arranged inside the hull.

Classed by Lloyd’s Register (LR) and equipped with a cargo handling system provided by TGE, the vessels belong to Jiangnan Shipyard’s premium “Camel 22E” ship type.

The “Camel 22E” is an optimized and upgraded version of Jiangnan Shipyard’s renowned “Lusitano” series. Compared with the original design, the “Camel 22E” reduces the number of cargo tanks by one while increasing cargo capacity by 1,000 cubic meters. Meanwhile, with the design speed unchanged, the vessel achieves significantly lower fuel consumption.

Highlights of the Two-Vessel Construction

▶ Advanced construction management concepts

Throughout the series construction process, Jiangnan Shipyard adopted the management philosophy of “white-collar engine room,” “hotel-style superstructure,” and “perfect deck.” The vessels not only achieved a “white-collar engine room” standard at delivery, but also maintained this goal throughout construction, creating a better working environment for frontline production teams, shipowners, and classification inspectors, while significantly improving production and inspection efficiency.

▶ Continued record-breaking performance

Following the achievements of previous vessels in the series, both ships achieved the “three zeroes” milestone before dock-out: zero outstanding comments, zero modification items, and zero remaining dock-out projects.

▶ Optimized construction cycle and improved efficiency

By standardizing construction processes, the two vessels further improved the accuracy of full-width deck block installation. The amount of on-site trimming required was reduced from extensive adjustments to only minor corrections.

The construction team achieved:

• Completion of full-width deck installation in 12 days

• Completion of outer shell coating in 8 days

• Reduction of the overall construction period by 5 days, achieving improvements in both efficiency and quality

Notably, the final vessel in the series completed its dockside construction phase in only 2.5 months, shortening the cycle by 1.5 months compared with earlier vessels in the same series and improving efficiency by 60%.