A 308,000-ton super large crude carrier, which is of the largest tonnage in the world, was named and undocked on June 19th at Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding Base of China State Shipbuilding Corporation. Renowned as "aircraft carrier" of commercial ships, the oil tanker is the first one undocked in the shipbuilding base, featuring independent technologies in research &development, designing and building.

Aiming at building large ships, Longxue Shipbuilding Base has set a national record of building such a large ship within such a short period of time. Besides, it has rewritten the history that no over 100,000-ton ships has ever been built in Guangzhou, making the city one of the three major ship-building bases in China.

Building super large crude carriers is regarded as an indication of a country's comprehensive ability of shipbuilding. Currently, such large oil tankers can only be built in a few countries including Japan. Compared with overseas shipping companies, domestic companies operate small oil tankers. The total number of super large crude carriers operated in China is still smaller than that of Japanese Oil Tanker Company alone. Therefore, Longxue Shipbuilding Base has created a history of designing and building an over-300,000-ton oil tanker independently in China.

Longxue Shipbuilding Base, which is expected to achieve production capacity of 500,000 tons in 2009 and over 2 million tons in 2011, will become new industrial growth point in Guangzhou. Together with the diesel engine production base of China Shipbuilding Group in Panyu District, they will constitute the core of advanced shipbuilding industry in the city, promoting scores of upstream industries, including steelmaking and electronics, and creating jobs for thousands of workers.

(Translated by Guangzhou Association of Foreign Affairs Translators)

Editor: Olivia