A side note on the conversion of the largest orange juice transport ship in Asia by CSSC Chengxi

Recently, the "Setes" vessel, the largest orange juice transport ship in Asia, which was refitted by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation Limited's CSSC Chengxi Ship Repair and Construction Co., Ltd., was officially delivered. This ship successfully filled the gap in China's orange juice refitting field, and the refitted orange juice transport ship has reached a world-leading level of technology.

Specialized food ships have a "big belly"

The "Setes" vessel was refitted from a 2500TEU container ship and has a capacity to carry 27,000 cubic meters of orange juice. It is 210.54 meters long, 29.8 meters wide, and 16.4 meters deep, equipped with 15 independent liquid cargo tanks, and classed by DNV GL. In addition, a ballast water treatment system, as well as a harbor generator and fuel boiler, were newly installed in the engine room to assist the liquid cargo hold system. The harbor generator is equipped with a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system, which has denitrification function and features green energy saving and environmental protection.

As the largest orange juice transport ship in Asia, the "Setes" vessel has a "big belly" and can carry approximately 30,000 tons of orange juice when fully loaded. Roughly calculated with the same density as water and based on 500ml per bottle, the ship can carry 60 million bottles of orange juice when fully loaded. The 15 liquid cargo tanks are all made of food-grade insulated stainless steel and can carry two types of orange juice: one is 0°C orange juice, and the other is -10°C concentrated orange juice, greatly improving the transportation efficiency of different types of orange juice for the ship owner.

A mobile "large refrigerator" at sea

The "Setes" vessel is like a mobile "large freezer" at sea, and its large freezing capacity is its biggest highlight, with the cooling system being the key core system. The total area of the cold storage insulation boards reaches 15,700 square meters, equivalent to the sum of the cold storage areas of more than 70 82,000-ton bulk carriers. Its 15 liquid cargo tanks are equipped with independent cooling systems, which can maintain a low temperature of -10°C to 0°C in the liquid cargo holds to ensure that the orange juice is not contaminated by bacteria during transportation. At the same time, the liquid cargo tanks are equipped with liquid level monitoring radar systems, anti-oxidation nitrogen injection systems, and fresh and hot water washing systems, which can greatly improve work efficiency.

The liquid cargo tanks of the ship are equipped with liquid level monitoring radar systems, anti-oxidation nitrogen injection systems, and fresh and hot water washing systems, greatly improving work efficiency. In order to fully meet the requirements of tank temperature reduction, the CSSC Chengxi design team conducted in-depth research on fluid mechanics and aerodynamics, and worked hard with the ship owner's project team to adjust the cold air circulation to a set method, maximizing the temperature reduction effect.

"Rough men" doing "needlework"

The installation of 15 liquid cargo tanks is both a difficult and a highlight of the refitting project. Each orange juice storage tank is 12.27 meters long, 12.47 meters wide, 11.8 meters in diameter, 18.9 meters high, and weighs more than 130 tons. Due to objective conditions, CSSC Chengxi could only allow the ship to dock at the outfitting wharf and use a large floating crane for tank installation. During the installation process, the floating crane was affected by the waves and passing ships, and the tank surface was affected by wind and the inclination of the ship's wharf docking. The minimum gap between the vertical entry of the tank and the bulkhead was less than 200 mm, the minimum gap between two tanks in the same compartment was only 100 mm, and the installation error of the base limit block and the tank limit block could not exceed 50 mm. After the tank entered the compartment, its bottom also needed to be precisely connected to the base welded to the bottom of the compartment, and fixed by 48 bolts. The difficulty of installing the tanks in a floating state can be imagined. In the narrow compartment, these "rough men" from CSSC Chengxi did "needlework", "threading" little by little in the compartment, and finally all the tanks were installed and passed the high-standard acceptance of the ship owner and ship inspector.

Joint efforts to overcome "hard bones"

The first refitting of an orange juice transport ship naturally encountered many difficulties: after the ship entered the factory, 3 cranes were removed, and about 700 tons of structures related to the original deck containers were removed; the amount of newly manufactured structures reached 1650 tons; 15 independent liquid cargo tanks, 3 refrigeration compressors, 15,700 square meters of cold storage insulation boards, as well as boilers, harbor generators, ballast water treatment systems, lifeboats, deck cranes, etc. were installed; sandblasting and painting reached 30,000 square meters. The project not only had a large workload, but also many new problems gradually emerged as the refitting project progressed. CSSC Chengxi Ship Repair Division made meticulous plans, firmly controlled every production node, flexibly arranged production plans, overcame various unfavorable factors such as the procurement of special materials, drawing modifications, and high-temperature construction in summer, seized every minute and second to ensure progress and deadlines, and successfully overcame difficulties in tank installation, precision control, and production processes, continuously operating to install 15 liquid cargo tanks in place, and completing the installation of 6 C-type deck sections 6 days ahead of schedule.

Watching the installation of tank after tank and the steady progress of various projects, the ship owner proposed in early September to deliver the ship 15 days earlier than the original plan. Faced with the customer's request, CSSC Chengxi launched a "40-day rush" labor competition, turning the impossible into possible again, and delivered a satisfactory answer to the ship owner within the deadline.

A relevant person in charge of CSSC Chengxi stated that the launch of the "Setes" vessel marks a precedent for domestic ship repair enterprises in successfully refitting orange juice transport ships for the first time, demonstrating the ship repair capabilities of CSSC Chengxi, marking the company's further success in firmly grasping high-tech and high value-added ship repairs, opening up the special "food-grade" refitted ship market, further consolidating and enhancing its own ship repair and refitting capabilities, and enhancing the brand appeal of CSSC Chengxi ship repair and special refitting. With its good brand effect, CSSC Chengxi recently won an order for a livestock refitting ship.