The Logistician
  • Home
  • Mode
    • Air
    • Sea
    • Road
    • Rail
    • Waterway
  • Industry
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Chemical
    • Cold Chain
    • E-Commerce
    • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • FMCG
    • Hi-Tech
    • Industrial
    • Luxury Goods
    • Project & Heavylift
  • Technology
  • Library
    • Books
    • Videos
  • Contact us
  • Tiếng ViệtTiếng Việt
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Mode
    • Air
    • Sea
    • Road
    • Rail
    • Waterway
  • Industry
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Chemical
    • Cold Chain
    • E-Commerce
    • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • FMCG
    • Hi-Tech
    • Industrial
    • Luxury Goods
    • Project & Heavylift
  • Technology
  • Library
    • Books
    • Videos
  • Contact us
  • Tiếng ViệtTiếng Việt
No Result
View All Result
The Logistician
No Result
View All Result
Home Mode Sea

How giant ships are built

23/06/2020
in Sea
Những chiếc tàu “siêu to khổng lồ” được chế tạo như thế nào?
0
SHARES
80
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Almost everything at this American shipyard exists at enormous scale. Vessels are constructed over years. Experience is developed over decades. The work is so spread out across the yard and over time that, to the untrained eye, it can be difficult to tell what is being hammered, wired or welded — and whether it’s right-side up or upside down.

When finished, more than a hundred pieces are fused into a hulking mass of metal that will be set afloat to connect an ever-shrinking world.

Large container ships play an almost incalculable role in the modern economy, responsible for delivering the vast majority of the products we buy. They make up a circulatory system that carries more than 90 percent of all traded goods.

Shipyards, like this one in San Diego run by General Dynamics NASSCO, keep those vessels moving.

Typically, the manufacturing process begins at the western end of the yard, where thin steel plates lie in stacks. The plates, longer and wider than a city bus, are welded and cut into panels. The panels, in turn, are twisted and shaped into the skeleton of the ship.

This ship under construction is the Matsonia. Four years ago, Matson, a transportation logistics company, signed a half-billion-dollar contract with NASSCO to build it and an identical one.

But not all container ships are the same. These two were designed to carry both cargo containers hoisted aboard and cars and trucks driven into the ship’s garage. Matson designated them “Kanaloa class” vessels, a reference to an ocean god in Hawaiian mythology and a wink to their eventual purpose: ferrying items to and from the island state.

As container ships go, the Matsonia is modest in size. But size is relative in shipping. Once it is seaworthy, likely by the end of the year, the Matsonia will stretch the length of more than two football fields and be capable of carrying thousands of 20-foot-long containers and 500 cars and trucks — as much as 57,400 tons of cargo in total.

In the United States, large shipyards have been on the decline for decades, losing out on orders for massive commercial ships to cheaper foreign competition. Today, more than 90 percent of global shipbuilding takes place in just three countries: China, South Korea and Japan.

The Port of New York and New Jersey takes in more imported goods than any other in the United States. The Port of Houston exports the most.
What industry does remain in the United States is supported by the federal government, which orders American-made ships of all kinds, from Coast Guard cutters to naval aircraft carriers. The industry is also protected by a century-old law, the Jones Act, which requires that people and goods moving between American ports be carried on ships owned and operated by U.S. citizens and built domestically.

The federal involvement has helped to preserve the vitality of the 124 remaining active American shipyards, which, according to government estimates, contribute more than $37 billion in annual economic output and support about 400,000 jobs.

That’s because despite the scale of the yards and immensity of the ships, much of the work happens at human scale.

NASSCO, which has been operating a few miles from downtown San Diego for nearly 60 years and became a division of General Dynamics in 1998, produces both commercial and military ships. There are often multiple being built or worked on at any given time, including this Navy assault vessel below, which was undergoing maintenance late last year.

The work here never stops, even during a pandemic.

Considered an essential business, especially because of its government contracts, NASSCO didn’t halt its operations as the spread of the coronavirus forced workplaces to close and communities to carry out shelter-in-place measures.

Instead, the company found ways to follow new safety protocols and social distancing. Worksites were cleaned more frequently, and hand-washing stations popped up across the yard. Some processes were altered to allow for fewer close interactions among the workers.

And even as the virus shut down much of the world economy, people continued to buy things, which meant that global shipping never completely stopped — nor did the job of making the ships.

A typical commercial ship takes NASSCO about three years to complete, including roughly 12 to 16 months of detailed design and planning. Construction of the Matsonia began in 2018.

The first few stages of construction focus on building out the structure of the vessel, in pieces. The panels are created and shaped into so-called blocks, chunks of the ship’s body that can weigh dozens of tons.

About 11 billion tons of goods are transported by sea each year.
The blocks are then blasted and painted before entering the final stages of outfitting, where they are filled in with equipment, cables and piping. Sometimes, the blocks are turned upside down because the work is easier to perform facing the ground.

The pieces are then assembled into bigger “grand blocks” and, ultimately, into the ship like the Matsonia.

When complete, the Matsonia will begin making the more than 2,000-mile trek between the continental United States and Hawaii.

Hawaii relies disproportionately on trade. An estimated 88 percent of all food in the state is brought in. Each year, nearly 13 million tons of cargo arrive by sea, according to Eugene Tian, the state’s chief economist.

That equals about 220 trips by a packed Matsonia.

“Ocean transportation is a vital component of our economy,” Dr. Tian said. “Without it, I don’t think our people would survive and our visitors wouldn’t be coming here.”

At the NASSCO yard, the pieces of the ship are moved from one staging area to the next by giant cranes affixed to a network of rails or on wheels. (The two largest cranes, named Logan Lion and Big Dipper by a pair of elementary school students in a contest, can lift a combined 600 tons.)

The shipyard is open day and night, year round. Workers on the first and second shifts of the day carry out most of the construction, operation and quality assurance. Those on the overnight shift generally perform maintenance on equipment across the yard or move the blocks from one staging area to the next for the coming day’s work.

Once a vessel is mostly complete, it is launched into the water, where finishing touches are applied, like the installation of any remaining equipment, and all of the vessel’s systems are tested. The ship can then begin its life as an engine of global trade.

If all goes according to plan, the Matsonia will slide into the water in the coming months to begin ferrying goods to Hawaii before the year is over.

Source: New York Times
Tags: NASSCOseashipyardvessel
Previous Post

Container spot rates hold steady, fuelling new hopes for a peak season after all

Next Post

Best Ways to Keep Track of Your Freight Shipments

Related Posts

Hòa Phát mua 2 tàu biển 90.000 tấn
Sea

Hoa Phat purchased two 90,000 – ton vessels to transport bulk cargo

04/03/2021
Cần sớm khắc phục tình trạng ùn tắc và chậm trễ tại các cảng khi thương mại thế giới hồi phục
Mode

It’s crucial that ports escape congestion and delays as global trade rebuilds

03/03/2021
10 Largest Container Shipping Companies in the World in 2021
Sea

10 Largest Container Shipping Companies in the World in 2021

17/02/2021
Kế hoạch tái cấu trúc nợ của PIL được đồng thuận, hãng tàu thoát khỏi nguy cơ phá sản
Sea

Successful debt restructuring saves PIL from becoming ‘the next Hanjin’

03/02/2021
Cước biển Á-Âu giảm nhẹ nhờ có thêm container rỗng
Mode

Asia-Europe ocean spot rates sail into calmer waters as boxes are returned

01/02/2021
Hãng tàu CMA CGM sẽ chịu trách nhiệm vận hành bến cảng mới tại cảng biển Alexandria, Ai Cập
Sea

CMA CGM to run new terminal in Alexandria port

01/02/2021

PHỔ BIẾN

Tại sao container rơi xuống biển và ai sẽ là người chịu trách nhiệm? Phần 2: Truy cứu trách nhiệm

Why do containership stacks collapse and who is liable?- Part 2: Legal liability

20/06/2020
Tình trạng khan hiếm container đang trở nên nghiêm trọng ở khu vực châu Á

Container Availability drops across Asia prior to Shipping Peak

17/09/2020
A Comprehensive Guide on the Shipping Industry’s many Bills of Lading

A Comprehensive Guide on the Shipping Industry’s many Bills of Lading

22/05/2020
Vietnam Airlines sẽ bay quốc tế từ 1/7

Vietnam Airlines plans to re-operate international flights from July 1st

12/06/2020

NỔI BẬT

Bolloré Logistics cắt giảm hơn 11,500 tấn khí thải CO2

Bolloré Logistics to cut over 11,500 Tons of CO2 Emissions

09/06/2020

Average speed of Russian rail freight increases to 466 km/day

19/06/2020
Việt Nam Airlines tăng cường các chuyến bay nội địa khi dịch bệnh được kiểm soát

Vietnam Airlines Grows Domestic Network After Full Restoration Of Flights

04/06/2020
Phụ phí mùa cao điểm (PSS) và tắc nghẽn cảng (PCS) bắt đầu được áp dụng với các tuyến châu Á

Peak season and port congestion surcharges spread to Asian tradelanes

23/11/2020
  • Home
  • Mode
  • Industry
  • Technology
  • Library
  • Contact us
  • Tiếng ViệtTiếng Việt
Email: info@logistician.org

© 2021 Copyright The Logistician - Designed by Đông Đô Media.,JSC.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Mode
    • Air
    • Sea
    • Road
    • Rail
    • Waterway
  • Industry
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Chemical
    • Cold Chain
    • E-Commerce
    • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • FMCG
    • Hi-Tech
    • Industrial
    • Luxury Goods
    • Project & Heavylift
  • Technology
  • Library
    • Books
    • Videos
  • Contact us
  • Tiếng ViệtTiếng Việt

© 2021 Copyright The Logistician - Designed by Đông Đô Media.,JSC.