On June 28, Tianlong 18, the first fast twin hull container ship, designed by Yichang Xinhui Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. and manufactured by Hubei Tianlong High Speed Ship Industry Co., Ltd., was launched in Yichang Shipbuilding Industrial Park.

　　After one year’s construction, Tianlong 18 is 105 meters long and its full displacement is 3,400 tons. It has filled multiple gaps in the field of China's fast twin hull container ships.

　　“From Yichang to Shanghai, it takes ships with the same tonnage for more than 98 hours, but it takes Tianlong 18 only 60 hours. The speed is increased by nearly 40%.” Yi Qisheng, chairman of Yichang Xinhui Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. introduced that the twin hull design of the ship divides a single hull into two slimmer hulls, which reduces the wave-making resistance, and the speed is increased from the previous 8 to 13 km/h to 22 to 27 km/h. At the same time, the width of the twin hull ship is larger than that of the mono hull vessel, the load is more and the stability is better. Compared with the mono hull ship with the same tonnage, it can load 40 to 50 more containers, which is twice the load of the existing 60-meter-long ships. In addition to the fast speed, the special twin hull design increases fuel efficiency and the fuel consumption per unit load is correspondingly reduced. Under the same load conditions, the carbon emissions and fuel exhaust emissions are also significantly reduced. The shallow draught is also a major feature of Tianlong 18. The design draught is only 3.00 meters, the heavy draught is 3.40 meters and the light load draught is 2.8 meters, which ensures the safe navigation of the ship in shallow waters and dry seasons.

　　Located in Jiangkou of Zhijiang and the Qixingtai Bund of Yangtze River Embankment, Yichang Shipbuilding Industrial Park covers an area of 160 hectares. With flat terrain and straight shoreline, it is a natural place for ship repairing and building. The park began construction in 2010, and in November 2017, it successfully passed the acceptance inspection organized by Hubei Provincial Office of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and met the provincial standards for shipbuilding industrial parks.

　　Hubei Tianlong High Speed Ship Industry Co., Ltd. has now reached intentions of building fast twin container ships with companies like the Container Lines Co. Ltd. of China Transport Group and South Africa Diamond Group.