China's largest self-developed supertanker has been completed in south China's Guangdong Province and was expected to set sail in late January.
Xin Pu Yang, the most sophisticated supertanker ever designed and built by a Chinese shipyard, docks at Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province, January 22, 2010. The ship was delivered to its buyer China Shipping (Croup) Company on Friday at Nansha port in Guangzhou. It marks a milestone that the tonnage of China's oil tanks finally breaks through 300,000 tons. [Photo: Xinhua/Chen Yehua] |
The 333-meter-long and 60-meter-wide oil tanker, named Xinpuyang, was designed and built by the Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. and the Marine Design and Research Institute of China.
The tanker was handed over to the buyer, China Shipping (Group) Company, in Nansha Port in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong on Friday, said a spokesman of Longxue.
The tanker is designed to have a service speed of 15.7 knots (equal to 30 km per hour) with a loading capacity of 308,000 tonnes of crude oil.
The ship is equipped with satellite navigator, radar and monitoring alarm system. China is the third largest oil importer in the world and 80 percent of its oil transport relies on foreign tankers.