The LNG container ship Minfan departs from Chongqing. (Photo/Chongqing Daily)

Chongqing – On October 30, Minsheng Group’s “Minfan” vessel—the first 130-type LNG-powered container ship on the Yangtze River—set sail from Chongqing’s Guoyuan Port on its maiden voyage to Taicang, Jiangsu Province. It carried 373 standard containers loaded with automobile and motorcycle parts.

According to Minsheng Group, Minfan is 129.97 meters long, 16.26 meters wide, and 6.60 meters deep, with a design draft of 4.60 meters. It has a maximum capacity of 430 TEU, is navigable in inland waterways, and has been awarded the China Classification Society's “Green Ship-2” designation. The ship optimizes its design to increase its maximum container capacity by enabling the stowage of standard containers from both cargo ships and railways, thus paving the way for intermodal transport.

Minfan's LNG single-fuel propulsion system employs technologies such as high-pressure common rail, micro-injection ignition, fully electronic control, and secondary ethylene glycol heat exchange, ensuring the stability and economy of LNG combustion while offering significant environmental advantages. Compared to traditional diesel-powered vessels, it reduces sulfur oxide emissions by nearly 100%, nitrogen oxide emissions by 85%, greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, and particulate matter emissions by nearly 80%.

According to a report by Det Norske Veritas, Asia is the fastest-growing region in terms of LNG-powered vessel demand, particularly in China. In 2024, the number of LNG-powered vessels in China reached approximately 320, representing a year-on-year increase of about 14.3%, accounting for approximately 28.5% of the global total. 

This growth is primarily attributed to the Chinese government's emphasis on environmental protection and vigorous promotion of clean energy, as well as the continuous improvement of China's LNG infrastructure, including relatively mature bunkering infrastructure.

However, LNG-powered vessels also face some challenges. First, while LNG is a relatively clean transitional fuel, it is not entirely carbon-free. Second, the construction of LNG bunkering infrastructure still needs to catch up with the rapidly growing market demand. 

Nonetheless, with increasingly stringent environmental policies, the shipping industry's demand for lower-carbon and more environmentally friendly fuels is increasing. The widespread application of LNG ships provides opportunities to develop other alternative fuels.

Currently, from the same container ship lineup, the "Minmian" has already been put into operation, while the "Minmin" and "Minxun" are to be completed. With the gradual commissioning of this series, Minsheng Group's container fleet will complete its transformation towards scale-up, standardization, greening, and intelligentization.

As a Chongqing brand with a century-long history, Minsheng Group actively serves the Belt and Road Initiative. Its market share on Sino-Japanese port routes and cross-strait routes remains stable, and it has achieved fruitful results in its international logistics operations in channels such as the China-Europe Railway Express, New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), and the China-Laos Railway. Among these, the annual shipment volume of the ILSTC has increased nearly threefold compared to 2020, maintaining Minsheng's position among the top three logistics companies in western China.