New Progress on the 7,000-Car Ammonia-Fueled Vehicle Carrier!

New Progress on the Ammonia-Fueled 7,000-Car PCTC: China’s First Zero-Carbon Vehicle Carrier Design Receives AiP Certification

Recently, the 7,000-car ammonia-fueled pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) independently developed and designed by the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI) under China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) officially received an Approval in Principle (AiP) certificate from DNV (Det Norske Veritas).

The vessel is expected to become a landmark green ship type for next-generation zero-carbon vehicle carriers. It also provides important technical groundwork for future market promotion and order acquisition. The achievement marks a major breakthrough for China’s shipbuilding industry in the design of clean-energy-powered vehicle carriers.

To implement China’s “carbon peaking” and “carbon neutrality” strategies and accelerate the innovation, development, and application of green zero-carbon propulsion technologies in the shipbuilding and shipping industries, SDARI has continued to focus on technological innovation and research breakthroughs.

The institute has independently developed five types of LNG dual-fuel-powered PCTCs, which have gained strong market recognition, with more than 40 vessels ordered to date.

These include the 7,000-car dual-fuel PCTC built by China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Nanjing) last year and the 7,600-car dual-fuel PCTC contracted by Jiangnan Shipyard this year.

In addition, many high-end PCTC designs developed by SDARI have achieved successful deliveries. Among them, the 7,500-car ultra-Panamax dual-fuel PCTC “SIEM CONFUCIUS”, designed by SDARI and built by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd., won the 2021 Shippax Deep Sea RoRo Environmental Award in September last year.

In November last year, the world’s first 3,600-car PCTC featuring LNG dual-fuel propulsion, battery hybrid power, and an Energy Management System (EMS)—the “Auto Advance”—was successfully delivered. The vessel was designed by SDARI and built by Jiangnan Shipyard.

In 2021, based on its existing PCTC design platforms, SDARI established a dedicated research team within its innovation center to conduct specialized studies on the technical feasibility, complexity, applicability, and safety of ammonia fuel propulsion. After achieving a series of research breakthroughs, the team successfully developed the ammonia-fueled 7,000-car PCTC design that has now received AiP certification.

As the shipping and shipbuilding industries urgently seek low-carbon and zero-carbon alternative fuels, ammonia has attracted significant attention because its combustion produces no carbon dioxide emissions. It is considered one of the promising alternative marine fuels with broad commercial application potential.

Currently, ammonia-fueled vessels have become a major area of research and development focus for shipbuilding industries in China, South Korea, Japan, and Europe.

Building on this AiP achievement, SDARI will continue research into battery hybrid propulsion and other low-carbon and zero-carbon energy technologies, pursuing further breakthroughs and deepening its development of green PCTC solutions to contribute more “China solutions” to the global shipping industry’s transition toward zero-carbon operations.