By Wu Xiaoyun

At about 6 am on 8th August, the 9100 car roll on/roll off ship ‘Hoegh Aurora’ built by China Merchants Heavy Industries (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. left the port, and started its first voyage. It marked the successful delivery of the largest and most environmentally friendly car roll on/roll off ship in the world up to now.

It is the first dual fuel and zero-carbon-ready Aurora Class car roll on/roll off ship built by China Merchants Industries Haimen Base lately. It was designed by Deltamarin. The length overall is 199.9 m. Its length between perpendiculars is 196.4 m. The moulded breadth is 37.6 m. The moulded depth is 14.53 m. The designed draft is 9.35 m. The transport capacity is 9100 cars. It has an enhanced deck and internal ramp system, which can load cars on 14 decks.

There are 1500 square meters of solar panels on the uppermost deck of the ship, which can save 30%~35% of motor production electricity. Apart from that, the ship is equipped with 1 low speed dual fuel main engine and 3 dual fuel power generators. It can use LNG and conventional fuel. It has also obtained the ‘Ammonia Fuel Ready’ and ‘Methanol Fuel Ready’ classification symbols from DNV (Det Norske Veritas). It is the first type of ship which can use carbon-neutral fuel in car carriers at present. It has also become the largest and most environmentally friendly car carrier in the world up to now.