Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipyard Delivers World's First iVLOC

The world’s first intelligent very large ore carrier (iVLOC), the DNV GL-classed Pacific Vision, was delivered by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipyard to China Merchants Energy Shipping Company.

Norway-headquartered international accredited registrar and classification society said in a statement that the vessel is the world’s first VLOC to implement DNV GL’s SmartShip descriptive notation.

To qualify for the notation, Pacific Vision has been outfitted with an integration platform, a smart navigation decision support system, a ship energy efficiency management and optimization system, and smart-vessel operation and maintenance system.

“It’s a great honour to have worked with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipyard, China Merchant Energy Shipping Company, and SDARI to develop the world’s first iVLOC,” says Norbert Kray, DNV GL’s Regional Manager Greater China.

“With the SmartShip notation, we wanted to give customers a platform to clearly present the new technologies they were utilizing to optimize performance, enhance safety, and minimize their environmental impact. This notation supports our customers who are developing smart ships that are setting the standards for the future of shipping,” Kray adds.

As part of the SmartShip notation, the ship has features including operational enhancement (OE), performance enhancement (PE), and condition monitoring enhancement (CME). From keel laying on 24 Dec 2015 to the final delivery, DNV GL cooperated very closely with SDARI, Shanghai Waigaoqiao and the associated manufacturers for the design implementation, site survey/verification and component/system certification.

The vessel will operate between Brazil and Asia (China, Japan, Malaysia and Oman), and will very likely also been deployed for the Brazil and Europe trade (Rotterdam, Italy).