China’s Hengli Heavy Industry has floated out four very large crude carriers (VLCCs) at the same time, an operation the shipbuilder has described as a first for the global shipbuilding industry.
The float-out took place on January 4 at the yard’s No. 1 dry dock, where four 306,000 dwt VLCCs were launched simultaneously.
The company said that preparing and launching four vessels of this size together is extremely rare due to the technical difficulty and the level of coordination required.
Hengli Heavy Industry was founded in 2022 on the site of the former STX Dalian Shipbuilding yard. It is part of Hengli Group, which is a subsidiary of Guangdong Songfa. In a short period, the shipbuilder has secured orders from several major international shipping companies.
The shipyard said the operation was made possible by the size of Dry Dock No. 1, which is 741 metres long and 135 metres wide.
The dock
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