A newly-built bulk carrier undocks. Photo by Sun Pengwei (Provided by Hengli Heavy Industry)

At the beginning of the new year, good news keeps pouring in! On January 6, six 82,000-deadweight-ton bulk carriers built in Dock No. 3 of Hengli Heavy Industry undocked on the same day. This undocking is the largest-scale one since the commissioning of Dock No. 3 of Hengli Heavy Industry. Building and undocking six 82,000-deadweight-ton bulk carriers in the same dock at the same time is also the first time in the world's shipbuilding history. Coupled with the record set by four VLCCs undocking from the same dock on January 4, Hengli Heavy Industry has set two global shipbuilding industry records within three days.

On the afternoon of January 5, after scientific and effective preliminary preparations, Dock No. 3 officially opened the sluice to release water. The six giant ships first met the waves, looking imposing. Along with multiple rounds of water injection, inspection and other work, the ships floated stably in the dock and successfully emerged above the sea level. The night was calm and the lights were bright. Each team divided the work and coordinated, fighting overnight. As the dock gate opened, the six steel giants undocked in turn and completed the undocking and berthing work early on the 6th. Next, they will fully enter the stage of outfitting at the wharf.

Setting two global shipbuilding industry records within three days benefits from the high-level construction capacity of Hengli Heavy Industry and also owes to the modern, high-end and large-scale supporting facilities. Dock No. 3 is 860 meters long and 80 meters wide, capable of accommodating the simultaneous construction of two 24,000-TEU container ships, with the largest scale in the world. Meanwhile, Dock No. 3 is equipped with two 2000-ton gantry cranes and one 600-ton gantry crane, having the largest lifting capacity in the world, which can make the block units larger, reduce the number of hoisting hooks and significantly shorten the in-dock construction period. During the construction of the six ships in this round, only five hooks were used for each ship to complete the main hull assembly, and the construction efficiency and quality have reached the world-leading level.