CCTV News Channel reported that LNG carriers, also known as liquefied natural gas carriers, aircraft carriers, and large cruise ships, are known as the "three shining pearls" in the shipbuilding industry due to their extremely difficult design and construction. They test not only shipbuilding technology and craftsmanship, but also management models and supporting industries, which can directly reflect a country's equipment construction ability and comprehensive technological level.

The global market share of Chinese shipping companies in the field of large LNG transport ships has jumped to 35%. Recently, the latest batch of LNG transport ships started construction in Shanghai.

The construction is underway on a new batch of 174000 square meter LNG transport ships undertaken by the Chinese ship Shanghai East China, with nearly 50 orders for LNG ships currently in hand.

Nowadays, Shanghai East China has become the "chain leader" of the LNG ship industry chain, cultivating the valve companies that used to share risks together into industry leaders.

Shanghai Hudong Shipbuilding Valve Co., Ltd. is located in Shanghai Changxing Marine Equipment Park and is an enterprise specializing in the development of low-temperature valves for LNG transport ships. Before joining the LNG industry chain, valve companies had always focused on producing conventional valves. However, due to the low technological content of conventional valves, everyone could manufacture them, and the company had more and more competitors. Chairman Jin Ning has decided to take a different path, transform and upgrade, and improve production technology.

But researching new technologies is not only costly, but who will use them? It has become an urgent problem for valve companies to solve. Coincidentally, Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard was also vigorously promoting the localization of LNG transport ships and cultivating relevant supporting enterprises. Chairman Jin Ning took the initiative to come to visit and, after some understanding, made up his mind to develop ultra-low temperature valve technology.

Jin Ning, Chairman of Shanghai Hudong Shipbuilding Valve Co., Ltd., said, "Hudong Zhonghua is currently the only and first enterprise in China with the ability to build large LNG ships. We have also seen this opportunity, seized it, and seized development. It is crucial to improve our core supporting capacity in the LNG industry chain

Although valve companies have decades of experience in valve manufacturing, they know very little about ultra-low temperature valves used in LNG transportation ships. How to manufacture them? What technical requirements do marine ultra-low temperature valves need to meet? These issues require the assistance of Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard. Hudong Zhonghua not only provided financial support for valve companies, but also provided opportunities for valve company experts to conduct research and learning on board, and dispatched technical personnel to participate in key technology research at valve companies.

Di Jiuwang, Chief Technical Expert of Shanghai Hudong Shipbuilding Valve Co., Ltd., said, "The shipyard has provided us with a learning platform. We have consulted a lot of materials and utilized our decades of experience in valve manufacturing to absorb these new technologies. The most crucial thing is to give our domestically produced products the opportunity to be used on real ships, and then improve and optimize them

After 3 years of research, the valve company has finally achieved independent innovation breakthroughs and successfully developed LNG marine ultra-low temperature valves. After 2 years of iteration, the product is not only lighter, but also significantly improved in performance and service life. It can withstand temperatures far exceeding the international standard of -163 ℃, reaching -196 ℃, and has passed ultra-high reliability tests at alternating temperatures.

With the gradual recognition of product quality by shipowners, the usage rate of domestic low-temperature valves on ships is increasing. This year, the shipyard has also agreed with the valve company to accelerate the application of newly developed large-diameter products on board, achieving the coverage of domestic low-temperature valves for LNG ships with full caliber. Over the past 20 years, the "chain leader" of Hudong Zhonghua led the valve company forward together, transforming a small workshop that originally only had a dozen acres of land into a large factory with hundreds of acres of land, and transforming the handmade equipment of old machine tools into a mechanized and intelligent flow workshop.

Jin Ning, Chairman of Shanghai Hudong Shipbuilding Valve Co., Ltd., said, "Since the first half of this year, the new orders we have received have been quite full and have set a new high in the company's history. Currently, we are the only and first enterprise in China to enter the field of ultra-low temperature valves. With the strong support of Hudong Zhonghua, it has played a very important role in promoting our localization

Song Wei, Chief Engineer of China Shipbuilding Corporation Shanghai East China, said, "A few shipyards of this high-end ship type want to further monopolize the market and improve the performance of this ship very quickly. We must be able to keep up with the pace of international market development. In addition to the design of this ship, a large amount of localization should be adopted in the matching of materials and equipment, so that this ship has world-class performance and good cost-effectiveness.

Expanding from LNG refueling ships to FSRU (Floating Storage and Regasification Unit) for LNG, new features will definitely lead to more equipment and new systems to complement. From the perspective of the industrial chain, only when the industrial chain is complete and enters a virtuous cycle of ecology, will the competitiveness of this industry in the international arena become stronger and stronger.
With the continuous improvement and enrichment of the industrial chain, there are more and more enterprises on this industrial chain. When building China's first LNG ship, there were only over 20 domestic supporting manufacturers and merchants on this industrial chain. After 20 years of development, there have been over 120 domestic supporting manufacturers, generating output value of tens of billions

Chen Jun, General Manager of CSSC Shanghai East China, said, "We have been deeply involved in the LNG industry chain for nearly 30 years. To become the" chain leader "of the industry chain, we must be relatively ahead in terms of technology, quality, safety, and control. Our product lineup is expanding, and the industry chain is becoming larger and larger, promoting upstream and downstream industries to become leading industries in the world. I believe this model can be extended

The appearance of Hudong Valve on CCTV is inspiring and inspiring. Looking forward to the future, Hudong Valve will focus on the "dual carbon" strategy, focus on the development goals of the LNG industry chain, enhance the core competitiveness of the enterprise, accelerate the high-quality development of the company, comprehensively build an international first-class modern valve intelligent manufacturing enterprise, and shape the international brand of Hudong Valve. We must not forget our original intention, remember our mission, and strive tirelessly to achieve our dream of becoming a maritime power.