The Technological And Economic Feasibility Study On The COSCO's Building The Ultra Large Container Carrier

In the past forty years since the full cellular container ship occurred, the most obvious characteristic of the development of the containership has been larger and larger in size. As the technical difficulties are being overcome, the wave of container carriers' size approaching ultra large is higher and higher.China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (hereinafter shortened as COSCO), the seventh largest container carrier in the world, still has much to do to enlarge its fleet. Facing the increasingly vigorous market and the competitors' crazy renovation of their fleets, it is very important for the COSCO to do preliminary research and technical and economic study on building the Ultra Large Container Carrier, according to its ten's "Five Year Plan". By doing so, the company can get ready for building the giant ship.This dissertation briefly introduces the development of the containership becoming larger in size and the current situation of the Ultra Large Container Carrier. It then studies the ordering and using of the giant carrier of the major competitors to COSCO. The technical and economic background of the development of the container carrier becoming ultra large is discussed. Technical and economic factors limiting the Ultra Large Container Carrier's development, such as integrated system, ship propulsion and container securing system, are described. It is pointed out in the paper that the ultimate target of the carrying capacity of the container vessel in the rather far period from now will be between YOOOTEUs and SOOOTEUs.After the general research on the Ultra Large Container Carrier, the dissertation analyzes the potential problems of COSCO container fleet, related to the current situations of the fleet and the operation of COSCO Container Lines. It discusses the carrying capacity upgrading plan for the Pacific trade of COSCO by analyzing the market development trend of the trade. The necessity for the COSCO to deploy new Ultra Large Container Carriers on the Pacific Line is investigated. The technical feasibility for the COSCO to build the container carrier of 7000TEUs is analyzed and proved based on the materials collected by the author and experiential formulae and ship design norms, also by the understanding of the main size, cargoes to be carried and container mix in holds. Design parameters such as feasible main size and Speed are obtained. The economy of this size containership is also studied by means of cost-benefit study with profit as the aim, based on the forecast of the freightrate and new building price.The author, through the above study, point out that the COSCO, as the biggest container shipping company in China, should order to build the Ultra Large Container Carrier of TOOOTEUs shortly, facing the increasing business on the Pacific Line. Only by doing so can the COSCO follow the trend of the world shipbuilding. The potential problems the company may face in building the giant ship are also discussed in the dissertation.