As the pulse of global trade beats across the vast ocean, a steel behemoth carrying a green heart is sailing through the waves from the mouth of the Yangtze River. It is not only a physical size challenge, but also a crucial decision for the global shipping industry at the crossroads of low-carbon transformation. At this moment, this giant ship named Oriental Wisdom, with the strong foundation of China's shipbuilding industry, is preparing to embark on a green voyage across Europe and Asia, declaring to the world that the future of shipping will not only have Chinese made hulls, but also environmental answers provided by China.

Open up green shipping routes

The world's first 24168 TEU methanol dual fuel ultra large container ship, Dongfang Zhihui, which has achieved millions of touchpoints across the entire network and sparked heated discussions, has been delivered to Nantong COSCO Shipping Kawasaki and officially handed over to Dongfang Overseas for operation. It will be put into operation on the Far East to Northwest Europe route and is expected to start its maiden voyage at Qingdao Port in early July 2026.

This ship was built by Nantong COSCO Shipping Kawasaki and operated globally by Dongfang Overseas, a subsidiary of COSCO SHIPPING. It is currently a benchmark masterpiece in the global methanol powered container ship field. With its excellent shipbuilding technology and leading green and low-carbon technology, it fully demonstrates the hard core strength of China's shipbuilding industry and embodies the Eastern wisdom in the shipping industry, injecting strong impetus into the green transformation of global shipping.

Hardcore performance meets all standards

After its official debut on May 8, 2026, the Dongfang Intelligent Ship immediately set sail for the open sea and completed a comprehensive sea trial in complex and changing real sea conditions, rigorously verifying core indicators such as power system operation, smooth switching of dual fuels, navigation energy efficiency, and ship handling stability in all aspects.

The ship is equipped with a domestically integrated methanol fuel dual fuel power system, which can flexibly switch fuel modes according to different navigation conditions and port environmental requirements, successfully solving the industry problem of balancing large capacity and low emissions for ultra large container ships. The measured data fully proves the safety, stability and progressiveness of the whole system, which indicates that this ship has fully qualified for the commercial operation of intercontinental trunk lines.

Leading the way in intelligent manufacturing strength

The top-notch green performance and intelligent performance are backed by the strong manufacturing and research and development capabilities of Nantong COSCO Shipping Kawasaki. The enterprise led the overall design, structural optimization, power integration, and intelligent energy efficiency system construction of the ship, achieving independent and controllable core technologies throughout the entire chain.

The project team has successively overcome key technologies such as ultra large ship lightweighting, safe methanol storage and transportation, precise dual fuel control, and full cycle intelligent energy efficiency management, breaking down multiple industry technical barriers. Compared with traditional fuel vessels of the same scale, it can achieve near zero emissions of sulfur oxides and has outstanding carbon reduction effects throughout its entire lifecycle. This delivery also marks that Nantong COSCO Shipping Kawasaki has fully mastered the complete set of construction technology for 24000 TEU level methanol dual fuel ships, and is firmly in the first tier of global high-end green ship manufacturing. Keywords: methanol dual fuel, green shipping, ultra large container ships

The low-carbon transformation of global shipping is accelerating, and green and compliant operations have become the core competitiveness of the industry. At present, the sister ship of the Oriental Wisdom Wheel is under construction intensively.Editor/Gong Ziwei