The 64,000-ton vessel, called MATER, is manufactured by Chengxi Shipyard Co Ltd in Jiangyin city, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/wxrb]

China's first large-scale, domestically designed and independently built woodchip carrier has been successfully delivered to its client. The 64,000-ton vessel, called MATER, is manufactured by Chengxi Shipyard Co Ltd in Jiangyin city, East China's Jiangsu province.

The vessel specializes in transporting woodchips, the raw material for making paper products. It is approximately 210 meters long, 37 meters wide and 23.5 meters deep, and is able to hold 1.65 times that of an ordinary bulker of the same size.

According to a manager of Chengxi Shipyard, the company was forced to overcome a number of difficulties during the manufacturing process. Due to the tight schedule, the main switchboard, emergency switchboard, and charge and discharge board systems were all switched on in a single day. All tests were strictly carried out to ensure the timely completion of vessels and trial trips.

According to the company, MATER is challenging Japan's dominance in the woodchip carrier industry.

Chengxi Shipyard is a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation and China CSSC Holdings Limited. It has made a number of major breakthroughs in vessel modification and pioneering new models in recent years. Last October, the company modified Asia's largest orange juice carrier to make it the largest in the world.

Having made 10 vessels so far this year, the company is preparing to produce three additional ships of the same type as well as a 70,000-ton woodchip carrier.