First 105,000DWT Shuttle Tanker Naming Ceremony

2011-1-20

On December 16, the first vessel of the 105,000 dwt Shuttle Tanker series, independently designed and built by COSCO Shipyard, was named FORTALEZA KNUTSEN in COSCO Nantong Shipyard. The successful construction marked a technical breakthrough for advanced offshore engineering vessels in China. This big event also had landmark significance in the development ofdeep water drilling support equipment in China. The shuttle tanker, being built for the Norwegian owner "KNUTSEN OAS SHIPPING AS", meets the construction standards and safety requirements of three parties, including Norway's Statoil, Brazillian Oil and Gas giant Petrobras and DNV class.

COSCO Shipyard owns all the independent intellectual property rights of its basic design, detailed design, and production design, a number of which fill the gap in the domestic field. Compared with normal tankers, the shuttle tanker has better maneuverability to provide the crude oil transfer services between FPSO, FSO, oil platforms, and onshore oil facilities. Its bow loading system is able to achieve the precise transmission of crude oil both in the floating state and in the moving state of the supplier and accepter. The vessel is equipped with a dynamic positioning system, controllable pitch propeller, fore-and-after thruster, unmanned machinery space, and helideck. These special features enable it to carry out all special offshore operations in a harsh environment. Additionally, it is equipped with a system reducing VOC (volatile organic compounds) emission, which is beneficial for environmental pollution control, making it a low-carbon green offshore engineered vessel.

At the naming ceremony, Mr. Xu Hui, Vice Mayor of Nantong City, congratulated COSCO Nantong Shipyard on the successful construction of FORTALEZA KNUTSEN. He added this fully demonstrated the technical strength of COSCO Shipyard for building large offshore engineering units, and made an outstanding contribution to the development of the offshore engineering industry in Nantong City.

Mr. Lv Shimin, Deputy General Manager of COSCO Shipyard Group, in his speeches expressed his heartfelt thanks to Nantong municipal government which has concerned itself with, and supported the development of, COSCO Shipyard for a very long time. He said that the successful construction of FORTALEZA KNUTSEN indicated our capability to carry out independent research and scientific innovation and puts us among the leading world-class level of service providers in this field. COSCO Shipyard has been looking forward to more extensive cooperation with global shipping and energy companies, especially with KNUTSEN OAS SHIPPING AS.

Mr. Trygve Seglem, President of KNUTSEN OAS SHIPPING AS, spoke very highly of the construction standards and capabilities in high efficiency and high quality of COSCO Nantong Shipyard, and expressed his wish to take this cooperation as a great opportunity, then further strengthen exchanges and jointly develop and build more and more state-of-the-art offshore products.

Key representatives from the municipal government and relevant government authorities in Nantong City, the ship owner, COSCO Group and DNV Class, among others, attended the naming ceremony.

COSCO Shipyard Group Co. Ltd. press release