China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) has claimed to take delivery of the world’s first “smart VLCC”, which theoretically only needs one crew member in the control room.
Earlier this week, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corp delivered the 308,000-dwt New Journey to the Shanghai-listed company, making it the 51th VLCC in the fleet of the world’s largest VLCC owner.
“This is the world’s first vessel certified by China Classification Society as ‘one-man-bridge-operated’,” said China Merchants Group (CMG), the parent of CMES.
“The amount of data collected from ship operation will also be more than doubled.”
The features of the ship include “smart liquid cargo management”, enhanced ship-to-shore networking functions, “comprehensive efficiency management”, and optimisation of vessel operation to avoid collisions, said CMG, without elaborating.
Separately, CMES said it has hired McKinsey & Co to improve its operational efficiency.
The US-based business consultancy, one of the largest globally, is advising on procurement, vessel utilisation, client management and digitalisation.
Calls to CMES seeking further comments were not responded.
The company recorded stronger results for the first quarter, with higher profit from oil and LNG shipping more than offsetting lower income from ro-ro and bulker business.
Net profits amounted to CNY 281m ($40.9m) for the first quarter of the year, compared with the CNY 150m in the same period of last year. Revenue rose to CNY 3.14bn from CNY 2.33bn.
