en.Wedoany.com Reported - Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard has delivered the 13,064 TEU container ship "Kota Elok" to Pacific International Lines (PIL). The vessel is specifically designed for refrigerated cargo transportation, deployed on north-south routes, and will serve the Asia-South America East Coast (ECSA) route 'ES1', jointly operated by PIL, Evergreen, and Cosco. According to Alphaliner data, this route deploys a fleet of 9,000 to 12,000 TEU vessels.
This new vessel is the first in a series of eight dual-fuel LNG-powered sister ships built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard for PIL, all scheduled for delivery by 2028. PIL ordered the initial batch of these container ships in early 2022, with an estimated value of approximately $160 million per vessel, and subsequently placed additional orders.
In terms of design details, between 2024 and 2025, PIL has taken delivery of four LNG-powered C-NPX type vessels built by Jiangnan (Group) Shipyard, with names starting with the letter "E", the first in the series being "Kota Eagle". Although the two designs are very similar in size and appearance, the vessels built by Jiangnan Shipyard and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard correspond to their respective designs, namely "Jiangnan KUN C-NPX LNG" and "Hudong 13000 C-NPX LNG".
The first four PIL vessels built by Jiangnan Shipyard have a capacity of 14,410 TEU, while those built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard have a capacity of 13,064 TEU. The main design difference lies in the hull depth: the Jiangnan design has a molded depth of 30 meters, while the Hudong design has a depth of 26.8 meters, the latter allowing for one less row of containers below deck. Another key difference is the reefer container capacity. The Jiangnan-built vessels are equipped with 1,500 reefer plugs, whereas the Hudong-Zhonghua-built vessels are designed for high reefer capacity, featuring 2,200 reefer plugs. To meet the greater power demand, additional generator sets have been installed onboard.
Furthermore, PIL has opted to install a smaller main engine on these high reefer capacity vessels: an eight-cylinder WinGD 8X92DF-2.0 engine, instead of the nine-cylinder WinGD 9X92DF-2.0 used on previous vessels. Consequently, the earlier vessels have a maximum speed of 22 knots, while "Kota Elok" has a speed of 21 knots. "Kota Elok" means "beautiful city" in Malay. The vessel has a length of 336 meters, a beam of 51 meters (capable of loading 20 rows of containers), a deadweight tonnage of 140,000 tons, and a draft of 15.5 meters. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is stored in the shipyard's self-designed Type B fuel tanks with a capacity of 12,000 cubic meters, and the Fuel Gas Supply System is also independently developed by the shipyard. PIL has decided to install a large wind deflector on the forecastle of "Kota Elok", while the next sister ship, "Kota Elan", will not be equipped with this component.
