Building a Gigantic Supertanker | Mega Projects | FD Engineering

foreign this is the world's most costly cargo ship it took two years and over 200 million US dollars to build because it is also the most difficult civilian ship in the world to build only 13 shipyards in the world have the capacity to do so its sole purpose is to transport liquid natural gas or LNG a clean energy source it may make life simpler but it is not so simple to manufacture a small defect can lead to disaster [Music] its manufacture is only possible because of Advanced shipbuilding technology a giant Shipyard and skilled Personnel paying close attention to detailing [Music] [Music] four tugboats pull a huge cargo ship into the deep water Port there are no other boats and no cargo is visible on the deck of the ship the huge LNG painted on the side of the ship stands for liquid natural gas [Music] [Music] at its dedicated dock the LNG carrier sends liquefied natural gas to storage tanks day and night through special Pipelines [Music] large tanker trucks on the other side fight to transport it to other cities [Music] [Music] many urbanites make a nice breakfast every morning before work foreign [Music] beverage during breaks and take a hot shower after work into the convenience of city life is liquefied natural gas which is widely used to generate electricity as well for homes factories hospitals Etc [Music] it has some special advantages over other popular energy resources [Music] [Music] [Music] greenhouse gases pose a serious threat to the environment making clean and efficient natural gas one of the most common energy sources powering modern society thank you the economy of Shanghai China's largest city is rapidly developing but environmental issues are also increasingly attracting attention clean and efficient natural gas is now helping to ensure the city's continued development the city's annual demand for natural gas is predicted to reach 4 billion cubic meters by 2012. but there are no local sources like oil and coal natural gas was formed underground over millions of years by geological forces [Music] it is not rare but geographical distribution is uneven economically viable reserves have been discovered mostly in Russia the Middle East and the South Pacific but transport was a problem until the technological breakthrough resolved it today natural gas is compressed to a colorless tasteless and non-toxic liquid at minus 163 degrees Centigrade that occupies 1 600th of its original volume which greatly reduces shipping costs Shanghai needs to build its own LNG carrier to ensure a stable and reliable supply of natural gas for continued growth not just any Shipyard can build an LNG carrier the low temperature gas is extremely dangerous [Music] any defect in the ship could spell a disaster [Music] on January the 20th 2004 an explosion at an LNG refinery in skikta Algeria leveled the battery leaving 27 people dead and 72 others injured accidents involving natural gas have made LNG shipbuilders especially cautious [Applause] thank you [Music] every morning more than 5 000 workers walk into the shipyard on the huangpu river this massive installation builds enough ships every year to carry 2.2 million tons of LNG more importantly as one of the world's finest 13 shipyards capable of building LNG carriers it is now building an extremely safe LNG carrier for the city this Mega LNG carrier is 292 meters long and 43.35 meters wide with a deck area as large as 30 basketball courts it has a capacity of 174 000 cubic meters of LNG A month's supply of the city's 23 million residents [Music] Engineers have begun the two-year task of creating the world's safest Mega LNG carrier using the most advanced engineering technology known as block building [Music] the hull is divided into 264 blocks Each of which is built separately and then precisely welded to the others [Music] the first step is cutting up the steel plates before actual work begins Engineers draw up blueprints based on precise engineering designs and calculations for every piece of steel plate to ensure that every part is flawless thank you on March the 20th 2010 the first batch of steel plate arrives at the shipyard workers will spend the next five months cutting over 6 000 pieces of steel plate shapes will then be welded together to form the hull every piece of steel plate is destined for a specific position on the ship no mistakes are tolerated [Music] she came in begins each day checking data every piece of steel plate has a barcode that indicates specifications date of acceptance and responsible persons [Music] um the barcode is a permanent part of each piece she came in carefully checks these specifications she uses the optimum cutting speed and temperature for each piece according to its thickness and strength should one faulty piece find its way onto the ship it could threaten the safety of the entire ship the large machine that Jung is operating processes the edges of these steel plates the specifications required that a 17 meter long piece must be cut within plus or minus 1.5 millimeters [Music] all welds must also be very precise to prevent any leakage that could mean disaster for the ship it takes two months to cut the pieces and inspect them for compliance before they are sent to be welded together to form the blocks of the hull this process is greatly simplified and accelerated by the use of welding robots [Music] unlike normal welding there are no visible Sparks because the robots spray welding powder on the joints before welding the use of robots ensures better quality worlds and is safer and more environmentally friendly than manual welding [Music] by now the hull begins to take shape the next step is to move all of the sections here to a nearby dock each move has to be carefully choreographed foreign [Applause] is driving a special heavy duty flatbed truck to transport a finished section to the dump each group of Wheels can independently turn 360 Degrees allowing it to easily maneuver around the shipyard the driver's cab on the lower part of the truck does not rotate making it hard for the driver to see on the left the right hand behind for this reason someone outside the truck is always needed to help guide it thanks to close corporation amongst the workers the section is smoothly delivered to the designated destination [Music] five months later the most important step in the construction of the mega LNG carrier begins as these sections are assembled to form a ship this is a task more complicated than the largest jigsaw puzzle [Music] foreign weighs over a thousand tons and they have to be joined with an error of less than three millimeters [Music] this is a job for the two huge cranes at the dock which together have the capacity to hoist 1200 tons [Music] ciao is the supervisor of the technical team at the dock the first thing he does every day is to make sure the cranes are operating properly a problem with one of the cranes could throw the assembly off schedule resulting in a huge financial loss for the shipyard today Jin Guang Fong sits in the cab of the crane over 10 meters in the air to accurately lift the sections to the proper position assembly of an LNG carrier requires much more Precision than for other types of ships the hull is made of huge steel plates so every section is gigantic gin must assemble the sections with an error of less than three millimeters every day presents a challenge any slip of the hand could have disastrous consequences the weather is clear today but yesterday's storm has made chow especially cautious [Music] everyone is working closely with the crane operators [Music] When Chow suddenly signals everyone to stop even though the operation seemed to be going smoothly this makes gin nervous ciao then signals for the section to be tipped causing tons of rain water to pour out the accumulated rainwater could have caused a huge problem for the welding process after the water is removed the section is slowly moved to the designated position specters will carefully examine it to ensure that all the joints are properly aligned [Music] three months later the outside of the ship is basically completed but there is an even more crucial step next ship is built to safely transport natural gas cooled to minus 163 degrees Centigrade which will require over 20 000 pieces of pipeline pipelines form a closed system for moving the LNG around the ship will also require an extremely powerful engine to propel the 150 000 ton carrier loaded with LNG [Music] foreign [Music] to the gaseous State during Transportation which must be released to avoid a very dangerous pressure build up into the air would be wasteful [Music] so the boiler system is designed to burn either diesel fuel or natural gas an LNG carrier is the only kind of ship in the world that can be powered by the cargo that it carries the two boilers supply high temperature and pressure steam to the engine through dedicated lines [Music] the lines must withstand steam at more than 518 degrees Centigrade under 60 kilograms of pressure [Music] to ensure that they can meet these conditions all steam lines are made of a special type of Steel that can resist high temperature and pressure and the joints between sections are heated to over 100 degrees Centigrade before and during welding [Music] on the deck of the ship installation is underway of a different type of pipeline [Music] the low temperature pipelines are connected to four on-board storage tanks and constitute an important part of the loading system the LNG is transferred to storage tanks on land through this system [Music] normal steel the steel used in these lines does not become brittle at low temperatures but producing the lines presents a challenge to welders because they have to be welded together piece by piece before they are transferred to the ship foreign [Music] is highly skilled in welding low temperature pipe and can weld with either hand [Music] as work on the ship progresses Dong's left-handed welding skill comes in handy the space between some pipes is too small for welders to use their right hand but left-handed welding solved the problem ambidextrous welding once considered as impractical and only a way to show off has become an indispensable skill in building a mega LNG carrier [Music] in another part of the plant two workers are x-raying the worlds to check for defects [Music] this is a very strict examination that covers every scene in every pipeline the X-ray photos are carefully scrutinized to make sure that they are absolutely no defects to ensure the safety of the pipelines and the ship thank you [Music] the use of natural gas which mainly consists of methane actually began a long time ago ancient Chinese records show that Chinese people began making salt by boiling brine over a natural gas fire over a thousand years ago until the mid-1880s however natural gas was not widely used mainly because of the high cost of transporting it discovery of the technology to liquefy it resolved this problem at -163 degrees Centigrade the LNG contracts to 1 600th of its original volume greatly reducing the cost of transportation and Storage [Music] China's rapid Economic Development has led to increased energy demand the burning of traditional fossil fuels has become less and less popular as the associated environmental problems become more aggravated nuclear energy has not proved entirely satisfactory and the Technologies for wind and solar power are not yet mature but we are now able to make use of efficient and clean natural gas which has become one of the most reliable energy resources powering Chinese Society [Music] the Shanghai ship will carry its load of 147 000 cubic meters of LNG 2 000 kilometers from the source to bring it to Shanghai this will be enough to supply the city's 23 million residents for one month [Music] the super carrier is not only important to Shanghai but also sets an example for the manufacture of LNG carriers in the future [Music] [Music] ten months after its building started the LNG caviar left the shipyard and pulled in at its special dock meaning the ship has largely taken shape the next step will be to assemble and test the insulated cabin as the ship is moored at the special dock everyone knows that the most difficult and crucial moment has come workers will start building four cargo compartments a step that boasts the most advanced technology and most stringent building codes [Music] nearly half of the 200 million US Dollars will be poured into the construction [Music] two layers of heat proof and insulation must be placed inside the cargo cabin so as to ensure the temperature is kept at a steady minus 163 degrees Centigrade every layer consists of strong insulating box materials and invar membrane as thin as 0.7 millimeters insulation boxes are not common wooden ones but are made of special wood import imported from Indonesia strong and durable this kind of wood won't easily deform workers then fill the boxes with ground perlite powder a special material for insulation and heat proof the factory of insulation boxes is equipped with the most advanced production line in the world there are 1 100 types of them [Music] the production of the 55 000 boxes needed follows stringent requirements has a distortion rate within plus or minus 0.06 millimeters thinner than the diameter of an adult's hair [Music] only the most advanced automation equipment can guarantee a standard in mass production insulation boxes are covered with invar sheets as thin as 0.7 millimeters invar is a high-tech material that is corrosion and low temperature resistant it can effectively isolate the minus 163 degrees Centigrade LNG with the outside invar is an ideal material for the building of an LNG cargo cabin processed invar steel is wrapped up in plastic film with caution as it has to be kept away from water um even a drop of sweat if not cleaned in time will leave rust on the surface of the invas steel in half an hour thus will change properties of invar which may become a fatal threat for the Mega LNG carrier fall down [Music] to ensure safety inside a cargo cabin all workers entering the hull are required not only to pass two safety doors but also to follow strict regulations that ban water in the cabin welders have to wear special sweat absorbing gloves these processes are to ensure the humidity in the cabin is well under control the four cargo cabins will hold 147 000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas [Music] workers set up 10-story scaffoldings the decagonal interior of each cabin must be covered with insulation layers on all sides [Music] this is a complicated steel platform which is assembled with 990 types of components 69 600 in total there are even elevators for workers to transport materials [Music] cabin one insulation boxes are being installed [Music] there are over 500 000 Parts in the insulation layer there are 1 100 types of insulation boxes totaling 55 000 in number it's a big project [Music] installing poses a great challenge to strength and skill workers must move boxes of various sizes to their respective designated location all boxes are precisely adjusted to achieve an absolute level and Ship Shape installation unevenness must not exceed 0.15 millimeters per square meter or else in vast Steel on the boxes will be affected causing potential trouble for welding Lee Hong Chao is head of the insulation box installation team he is the first Chinese to take part in the building of an LNG carrier in 2004 Lee started to take part in insulation box installation in an overseas Shipyard foreign [Applause] [Music] at that time no one else has the same working experience as him an experienced technician like Lee Hong Chao is even more valuable than an engineer based on his experience Lee has made quite a few number of proposals for installation improvements which has cut the installation Time by half and expedited the project thank you in Cabin 3 workers have started Paving in vast deal sheets they fought to set up in vast steel frames on those boxes to hold inverse steel sheets [Music] workers then start installing invas steel strikes on the frames foreign strikes are across the walls of a cabin so that coordination between workers is needed to avoid Strokes breakdown welding starts as soon as invar strikes are put in place a greatest skill to world invar sheets a sheet is only 0.7 millimeters thick and fits tightly with insulation boxes any faster or load temperature welding could easily result in a missed spot on the other hand anything opposite and the insulation boxes will be set of flame [Music] for a mega LNG carrier cargo cabins have to be absolutely airtight no missing spot is allowed or it may become a potential danger the entire ship Sebastian Le Morgan has been working at the shipyard for a year as a third-party quality supervisor his job is to find on-site potential problems invisible to others since the first LNG carry was born in 1954 safety has been put as the top priority so far no leakage has occurred to any LNG in operation in addition to stringent requirements on the part of Building Technology there is a vigorous three-party cross-check system all inspections are to ensure the ship is 100 safe [Music] to ensure a stable welding quantity a large number of robots have been employed however a robot is not a Panacea it can't work in a narrower spot or irregular Corners where skilled welders would take its place foreign welding is the most difficult welding skill in the world workers have to pass tests of the gtt company and earn the G certificate before they get the job [Music] Jolie fund is a superstar in VAR welder part that she is responsible for is the ceiling of the cabin the most difficult area of all [Music] right in 2004 she left her hometown in central China for Shanghai where she received all-round training to become one of China's first female invar welders in China 240 million people leave their Hometown to work in Metro cities they have become an important force in pushing forward China's industrialization process everyone hopes to have a good life through self-support Jolie fun is no exception now she has settled down in Shanghai she works hard and has found her true love her husband is her co-worker their dream is to work hard to buy an apartment so that their children can come to live with them [Applause] thank you the mega LNG carrier has been moored at the number seven dock for over eight months insulation in the four cargo cabins is almost done everyone is waiting for the installation of the last important component the pump Tower it is the core of the system for loading and unloading liquefied Natural Gas also collect evaporated LNG during transportation to fuel the ship as well as lower risks in the cabin however a problem arises facing the installation of the Tower yard for the Mega LNG carrier is located along the huangpu river the birthplace of China's modern industry as well as China's shipbuilding industry however after more than a Century's growth land area has been dwindling [Music] destruction is underway for a new dock with better Port facilities but for Shanghai which is in urgent need of liquefied natural gas the construction of the LNG carrier must be expedited [Music] though the pump Tower is to be installed in three days the ship has to move [Music] the seven dock is by the huangpu river whose average depth is 8 meters good for passage of a 10 000 ton ship however the river carries a lot of sand and mud from Upstream every year a sediment raises the riverbed posing a Potential Threat for ships in general and for the carrier in particular with each pump Tower weighing 36 tons the entire ship will sink a meter when all four are installed with the current water depth the ship could be in danger of being stranded 500 meters away mud cleaning is underway workers have to clean the mud in the 300 meter riverbed as quickly as they can so the pump Towers can be installed on another section of the yard the pump towels are being tested one last time the tower is 30 meters tall and 36 tons heavy made completely of inverse Steel foreign [Music] [Applause] has been moved to the number eight dock for installation of the first pump Tower as time goes by everyone becomes increasingly nervous installation of the invar steel in the four cargo cabins is nearly done the Interiors of the cabins have been covered with 0.7 millimeter thick invar steel sheets totaling tens of thousands of square meters the 36 ton pump Tower will be lowered to the bottom of the cargo cabin through a small opening on the roof a collision with the welded invar interior will break the inverse Steel the inner walls will have to be repaired which will be an immeasurable loss Engineers are holding their breath thanks to another issue the pump Tower is 29 meters tall plus the height of the hull installing the tower right here is a great challenge because with normal water level hoisting is impossible the only solution is to do it at low tide when water reaches its lowest level [Music] s [Music] thank you foreign [Music] the container of the pump Tower was open the clock is ticking workers tie the wire tightly to the designated spots on the pump Tower has been accurately calculated through computer simulation the pump Tower is lifted from the container and set up right in the air they are working against time to check and clean it one last time power is slowly lifted and moved towards the small opening on the deck here comes the most difficult stage the big pump Tower will be lowered into the cargo cabin through the small opening insulation inside is already complete any Collision will devastate the insulation layer in the entire cabin the loss will be more than anyone can bear [Music] jiaobin's job is to direct the crane at the opening he has to succeed [Music] half of the time has passed the pump Towers have to be put into the cargo cabins before The Tide Rises [Music] [Music] as The Tide Rises the pump Towers have been successfully hoisted into the cargo cabins but another challenge arises the crane operator cannot see what's going on inside the cabin [Music] all depends on the directions of the engineer in charge the outside operation has to be controlled remotely through messages coming out of the walkie-talkie inside the cabin excess depends on how well they coordinate foreign when the last pump Tower lands on the designated spot construction of the mega LNG carrier is nearly complete [Music] over the past two years the building of the carrier has consumed more than 6 000 steel plates 350 000 liters of paint 250 kilometers of wires and piping and one million work hours totaling more than 200 million US dollars in the near future the ship will be tested at Sea more than once before it officially goes into operation as LNG carrier [Music] over the next 20 years this Mega LNG carrier will travel across the ocean to deliver high efficiency and clean energy to Shanghai for its continued growth foreign [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary - Engineering

Views: 178,232

Keywords: free documentary, free documentary engineering, engineering, engineering documentary, tech, tech documentary, constructions, constructions documentary, technology documentary, lng boat, super lng boat, extreme constructions, mega constructions, oil tanker

Id: sekr6yD8SbY

Length: 48min 4sec (2884 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 07 2023