Chinese yard delivers first of 10 OSVs to France

摘要

Currently, in a cooperative effort involving American, European and Chinese companies, a series of ten 73.2m (240ft) Cummins-powered diesel electric offshore supply ships is being built in China for the France-based SURF, a member of the maritime branch of Groupe Bourbon. The first of the series has undergone sea trials at Zhejiang Shipbuilding at Ningbo, southeast of Shanghai. The next four are currently in build. While significantly longer than the US-owned diesel-electric boats on which the design is roughly based, the Chinese boats have retained the same 16.5m beam. To allow for the larger vessel size and increased cargo capacities the total horsepower has also been increased. While the US vessels have two Cummins D(M) Marine Generators and one Cummins KTA38-D(M) powered 900kW generator, the Chinese-built vessels employ three QSK-60 powered generators.