Chinese shipbuilding companies on Friday signed a contract in Shanghai with Canada's Seaspan Corporation, the world's largest independent container ship lessor, for the construction of six 13,600 TEU large container vessels.
The contract was signed by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd., China Shipbuilding Trading Co., Ltd., and Seaspan Corporation. The contract is the largest shipbuilding order settled in RMB in China this year.
The 13,600 TEU large container vessel in the contract is a green and environmentally friendly container vessel developed and designed independently by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd.
With a total length of around 336 meters and a width of 51 meters, it can accommodate a maximum of 14,132 standard containers and offer 2,000 reefer container slots.
The order is the third batch of a total of 15 large container vessels that Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd has undertaken this year. It is the first time that the contract is settled in China's currency, the renminbi (RMB), and it is also the largest single shipbuilding order that is settled in RMB for container vessels in China this year, marking a significant step towards advancing the internationalization of RMB.
The construction of the vessels are scheduled to be completed and delivered between 2026 and 2028.
Chinese shipbuilding companies sign large contract with Canadian corporation
Black-necked crane, a rare species under China's first-class national protection, has been living in harmony with local residents over the past years in their plateau paradise -- southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, thanks to the ecological conservation efforts made by local authorities and the care provided by the locals.
Every autumn, the village of Jianda in Shigatse City welcomes some distinguished guests -- over 1,000 black-necked cranes dressed in their elegant black-and-white "tuxedos".
Jianda is their exclusive "winter palace", where they are looked after by 75-year-old Tenzin. He has born witness to the village’s time-honored proud tradition of harmony with nature.
In this model of "human-crane cohabitation", the cranes stand guard as the farmers till their fields and they dance while the livestock graze on pasture. And in the golden glow of sunset, the village's chimneys puff out smoke to a chorus of crane calls, in celebration of a timeless pact between humans and birds.
Every year, when the wintering season ends and the cranes prepare to leave Jianda, Tenzin is always reluctant to part with his pets.
"They're leaving for Changtang [Plateau] again. I can't help but feel a bit reluctant to see them go," said Tenzin.
The black-necked crane, dubbed the "panda of birds", is the world's only crane species that breeds and lives on plateau. They mainly inhabit swamps, lakes, and floodplains at an altitude of 2,500 to 5,000 meters. In China, black-necked cranes are mainly distributed across the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and the Yunnan Guizhou-Plateau.
Their food includes plant leaves, rhizomes and algae. The presence of the black-necked cranes is a sufficient indicator of the sound environment of the plateau wetland ecosystem.
Xizang has always prioritized eco-environmental conservation and kept reminding itself that conserving the ecology of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau is the greatest contribution to the survival and development of the Chinese nation, said a white paper issued by the Chinese government in March.
The region is committed to maintaining harmony between humanity and nature in modernization. It also strives to continuously improve eco-environmental governance and protect biodiversity on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, according to the white paper.
Xizang has established 47 nature reserves of all kinds, covering 412,200 square kilometers. According to the second survey of terrestrial wild animals, there are 1,072 terrestrial wild vertebrate species and 246 wild animal species under special state protection in Xizang.
Black-necked cranes coexist peacefully with humans in their plateau paradise
