CHINA has launched the world’s first pure electric container ship with a carrying capacity of over 10,000 tons, marking a key milestone for the country’s green shipping industry.

The Gezhouba, with a deadweight tonnage of 13,740 tons, was commissioned in a ceremony near the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower project, in Yichang in Hubei Province on Thursday.

At nearly 130 meters in length, the vessel is powered by 12 sets of box-type lithium battery units, giving it a range of 500 kilometers. It cuts fuel consumption by about 617.5 tons and carbon dioxide emissions by around 2,052 tons a year.

Built by Yichang-based China Gezhouba Group Machinery and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., the Gezhouba will be used to transport bulk cargo along the main route of the Yangtze River.

The vessel uses new energy power, smart navigation and control, and other new technologies, said Yan Xinping, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Its construction has validated a series of core technologies and supporting infrastructure, providing essential technical support for the transformation of the Yangtze shipping industry, Yan noted.

Yichang is a major manufacturing center for inland cargo ships in China. Some 150 new vessels were built in the city last year, including 50 new energy boats, with a total deadweight tonnage of 1.5 million tons.

In addition to all-electric ships, the city has built other new energy vessels, including the Changhang Huoyun 002, China's first pure liquefied natural gas bulk carrier; the Yangtze River Three Gorges 1, an electric tourist liner; and the Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat 1, the country's first hydrogen-powered ship.

Orders for new energy vessels make up 88% of all those received by Yichang Shipbuilding Industrial Park this year, said the park’s director Wang Xu.

“New energy vessels are definitely the trend," he noted.(SD-Agencies)