The giant total shipbuilding method has become the new favorite of the shipbuilding industry

In the 21st century, there has been a historic peak in global shipbuilding. In order to build ships faster and more, Korean shipyards began to apply the giant section construction method. This method of shipbuilding can further shorten the construction period in the dock (for example, from 3 months to 1.5 months), which greatly increases shipbuilding output. At present, this method has been applied in some shipyards in China and Japan, and has achieved certain results. This indicates that the giant total shipbuilding law is becoming the new darling of the shipbuilding industry and is expected to be promoted worldwide.

In the development of the modern world shipbuilding industry, there have been two major changes in the construction methods of large steel ships. This time during the Second World War, the United States promoted the application of welding technology to replace the riveting method for the rapid and large-scale construction of ships, and widely used the segmentation method. The new welding and section construction method is actually applied to shipbuilding production, which greatly improves production efficiency and increases production. During the rapid recovery and development of the European shipbuilding industry after World War II, the welding and segmentation construction methods were widely used. The sloping berth and overhead cranes with tens of tons of lifting capacity became typical shipbuilding facilities at shipyards in the UK and other European countries. The second shipbuilding method revolution occurred in the early 1960s. Shipyards in some European countries (mainly shipyards in the Nordic countries such as Denmark and Sweden) built large dry docks for the rapid construction of large oil tankers and bulk carriers. Large gantry cranes produce large sections weighing hundreds of tons. This large-scale construction method has shown obvious advantages in the construction of large ships, and has been widely used in the subsequent renovation of old shipyards in Japan and the construction of a large number of new shipyards. Large dry docks and giant gantry cranes with hundreds of tons of lifting capacity have become the iconic facilities of the world's modern large shipyards.

Nowadays, the huge total section shipbuilding method adopted by the Korean shipyard can increase the weight of the large-closed section (which has completed most of the armoring work) that is hoisted into the dock to 2000-3000 tons, or even heavier. In the case of the conventional large-segment construction method, the number of segments of a VLCC exceeds 100, and the number of segments of a 100,000 dwt Aframax tanker is 60-100; In the case of the law, the segment weight is increased to about 3,000 tons, the number of segments of an Aframax tanker is only 11 and the number of segmented Panamax tankers is only 5. Compared with the large-scale section shipbuilding method, the giant total section shipbuilding method has the following three important changes: First, the giant section is hoisted into the dock, usually completed by a giant floating crane. For this reason, most Korean shipyards have added floating cranes with a lifting capacity of more than 3,000 tons. Second, the giant sections can be manufactured either in the shipyard or from the professional sub-factory or even the foreign sub-factory. After that, it is towed to the dock by the sea and directly hoisted into the dock. Third, the construction method of the giant section can be easily combined with the “flat shipbuilding method”, “floating dock shipbuilding method” and “barge shipbuilding method” to further improve Shipbuilding efficiency and production, and has the advantages of reducing investment costs and faster production capacity.

This giant-segment shipbuilding method, which was first developed and applied by South Korea's Samsung Geoje Shipyard, has also been used in Japan's Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Corporation. Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. towed three giant sections manufactured in Zhoushan, China (the bow to the front section of cargo bay No. 5, including the rear section of the cabin and the upper residence), towed from the sea to the main plant in Japan, and closed in the dock. . Since 2004, Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co. has built five 52,000 DWT bulk carriers and three 82,000 DWT bulk carriers using this method. China's Shanhaiguan Shipyard also adopted the giant total section shipbuilding method when constructing a 30,000 dwt bulk carrier. After the two sections of the plant were built on the flat ground, the airbags were moved to the floating platform to connect them into a whole ship and then launched.