The world's largest luxury roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) passenger vessel, built by Guangzhou Shipyard International Co for Italy's Moby Line company, will leave Guangzhou, Guangdong province, for Europe next week.
[Photo by Zhong Wei for chinadaily.com.cn]
The vessel, dubbed Moby Fantasy is expected to begin operations between the cities of Genoa, Olbia and Livorno along the Mediterranean coast in the months to come.
Zhou Xuhui, vice-president of GSI, said the Moby Fantasy is the most advanced ro-ro passenger vessel in the world, as it is equipped with cutting-edge technologies and equipment.
The displacement of the vessel, which includes 13 layers of deck, exceeds 70,000 metric tons, he said.
Its interior is comparable to a luxury cruise ship, Zhou said. It's basically a floating five-star hotel on the sea.
"This high-standard and environmentally friendly ro-ro vessel demonstrates GSI's leading shipbuilding strength and technology," Zhou said.
Achille Onorato, general manager of Moby Line, said the construction of the vessel demonstrates the friendship between China and Italy and good cooperation between his company and GSI, a unit of State-owned China State Shipbuilding Corp and a Shanghai Stock Exchange listed company.
The vessel is 237 meters long and has a molded width of 33 meters. It has 530 guest rooms and is designed for more than 2,500 passengers and 800 vehicles. It can reach speeds of 23.5 knots (43.5 kilometers per hour).
Meanwhile the vessel is designed strictly in accordance with the concepts of green environmental protection and efficient operation.
It is also equipped with the latest hybrid scrubber system to ensure that any smoke emitted meets the requirements of cleanliness and environmental protection.
The Moby Fantasy is equipped with an extremely low-power engine system, which can drive the ship to 25 knots with extremely low fuel consumption.
It also reserves a liquefied natural gas propulsion function interface, allowing its owners to easily switch to LNG in coming years. This will further reduce the emissions of pollutants from ships.
GSI and Moby Line signed a contract to build two luxury ro-ro passenger vessels in 2019. The second one will be completed and delivered later this year.
