HJ Shipbuilding & Construction (HJSC) held a naming ceremony for two 5,500-TEU eco-friendly container ships at Yeongdo Shipyard in Busan on Feb. 6. The ceremony was attended by more than 100 people including clients, classification supervisors, and HJSC employees.
The two vessels were named the Zim Yangtze and the Zim Mississippi, respectively. They are two of the four container ships for which HJ Heavy landed an order in October 2021, marking the company’s return to the merchant ship market after a six-year hiatus.
With the addition of an order for two more of the same type in 2022, HJSC has secured a total of six 5,500-TEU container ships worth US$410 million. Following the christening of the first and second ships last year, the naming ceremony on Feb. 6 marked the completion of HJSC’s construction of all four 5,500-TEU eco-friendly container ships.
HJSC continues to win orders for medium-sized and large eco-friendly container ships in the 5,500-9,000 TEU range including methanol-ready, dual-fuel (DF) and methanol-powered vessels. The ships named today are methanol-ready vessels that can be converted to carbon-neutral operations using environmentally friendly methanol.
“They are characterized by cutting-edge specifications and environmentally friendly design, pruning fuel consumption by 40 percent,” said an HJSC representative, adding that they also meet Phase 3 and nitrogen oxide (NOx) Tier III of the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s energy efficiency design index (EEDI) standards on eco-friendly ships.
“We have delivered four container ships so far and we will repay the faith shown in us by the clients by building the remaining two ships perfectly with full attention to the process and quality,” an HJSC official said. “HJSC will strengthen its competitiveness through differentiated technologies from eco-friendly ships that will lead the way in carbon neutrality to high-value specialty ships.”