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Newbuilding MSC Noa Arieila was named on July 24 deployed to Nansha district of Guangzhou to begin operations
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The 16,616 -TEU ship was built jointly by Guangzhou Shipyard International and China Shipbuilding Trading
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366 meters long and 51 meters wide, MSC Noa Arieila is reportedly the largest container ship built in South China
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) took delivery of its largest boxship from South China shipbuilders on July 24 for its cargo transport operations in the region, Chinese media reported Tuesday.
The new vessel was named MSC Noa Arieila before it sailed off to the Nansha district of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province to begin its operations, the reports said.
The 16,616-TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) ship was built jointly by Guangzhou Shipyard International Co Ltd and China Shipbuilding Trading Co. Ltd.
At 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, MSC Noa Arieila is so far the largest boxship from South Chinese shipyards, GSI said in a statement. The vessel has a moulded depth of 30.2 meters and has a draft of 14.5 meters.
The shipbuilder said MSC Noa Arieila is the first of eight container vessels that GSI and China Shipbuilding are constructing for Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA under a contract signed by GSI and MSC in March 2021. .
GSI, a subsidiary of Shanghai-listed China State Shipbuilding Corp., is also one of the major shipbuilding bases in the country.
The shipyard had successively overcome technical difficulties in building the vessel, such as cutting and welding crack-resistant steels and automatic welding of crack-resistant steel by robots, under the guidance of a large container ship expert group from CSSC, the GSI statement said.
Continuous technological innovation has led to the development of super-large container ships in terms of environmental protection, the statement said. MSC Noa Arieila is equipped with advanced desulfurization and denitrifiction systems.
The first six vessels will have reserved liquefied natural gas power function, while the remaining will use LNG dual-fuel propulsion system, meeting the latest environmental emission standards, GSI said.
The vessel has a shaft generator that produces 4,000 kilowatts, project manager Yang Wei said. He explained that the shaft generator can supply the vessel’s electricity demand when is connected to the grid with one main generator.
The vessel is also equipped with a world-leading air drag reduction system. When the vessel is sailing, the air compression system on board pumps compressed air into the bottom of the vessel, forming a layer of air at the bottom that reduces the ship’s drag and lessens its fuel burn.
The delivery of MSC Noa Arieila came just a week after its sister vessel and the world’s largest container ship, MSC Michel Cappellani, was named on July 17 at the MSC Gate Terminal in Bremerhaven Port, Germany, in a quayside ceremony attended by 800 guests including Bremen state and city officials as well as port executives and shipping and logistics industry stakeholders.
The naming ceremony was the climax of the 24,000-TEU MSC Michel Cappellani’s one and a half month maiden voyage from Ningbo in Northeastern China to the Northern Europe port following its delivery to MSC by the Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co.
