Our reporter learned from the Wuhan University of Technology (WHUT) that since the beginning of this year the university has received orders to design 110 new energy ships.

Pei Zhiyong, the director of the Ship and Cruise Center of WHUT, said that, "In just one year, the number of new energy ship design orders has increased from three last year to more than 100 this year, coming mainly from the Anhui Provincial Port & Shipping Group and Shandong Shipping Corporation." It has been reported that this year Shandong Shipping has expanded its business to inland river shipping for the first time, and has entrusted the university to design 100 new energy ships.

New energy ship designed by WHUT

WHUT has been researching intelligent inland river ships since 2002, and has become a leading R&D institution in this field. The carbon emissions of its 10,000-tonne hybrid (oil and gas, electric), green, intelligent bulk-cargo ship is more than 30 percent less than that of a traditional diesel ship. A 3,000-tonne, pure electric container ship that it designed has zero emissions and generates no pollution.

At present, there are more than 100,000 traditional diesel ships operating in the Yangtze River Basin alone, and the market penetration rate of new energy ships is less than one percent. Pei said: "The demand is very large, and the foreseeable market scale is up to RMB 10 billion. We have taken the lead in setting sail in this vast new blue ocean."