COSCO’s 98,370 dwt semi-submersible Xin Guang Hua recently hauled the cylindrical FPSO Western Isles, a 31,000-ton behemoth, from Shanghai to the North Sea.

Since her delivery into service in December 2016, Xin Guang Hua has been setting records. She is the largest semi-submersible in China and the second largest in the world. The Western Isles was the largest single piece of cargo by weight and the largest cylindrical object by volume ever carried by a COSCO semi-submersible.

Xin Guang Hua is owned by COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers, while the Western Isles FPSO was manufactured by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industries Company. Both companies belong to the newly-merged China COSCO Shipping Group. Their collaboration in the transport of the Western Isles FPSO to the U.K. included everything from ensuring loading preparedness to the pre-voyage meeting and on-site loading, and was another example of Chinese companies adding “service by China” to the “made in China” label.

“Xin Guang Hua will significantly improve the service capabilities of our company‘s semi-submersible fleet for transporting large-scale international maritime projects and promote the progress of modularization and upsizing in the manufacturing industry. The vessel symbolizes a firm step towards our strategic goals of being the world‘s most competitive specialized carrier company and the leading provider of project logistics services,” says Han Guomin, General Manager of COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers.

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