First domestic pure electric inland river vessels set sail for the open sea

AI Inquiry: How Does the Ship-Electric Separation Model Innovate the Inland Shipping Experience?

Reporter: Wang Hui

On March 19, by the Grand Canal in Jining, Shandong, a fully electric container ship gently slid into the water. The ship measures 79.9 meters in length and has a carrying capacity of 3,500 tons, equipped with four containerized batteries, each with a capacity of 1,959 kWh.

This is the first inland fully electric container ship export order in the country, built by Shandong New Energy Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “New Energy Shipbuilding”) for the French shipping group CMA CGM. After delivery, it will be put into operation on a green shipping route from Binh Duong Province in Vietnam to Cai Mep Port, with an annual transport volume exceeding 50,000 TEUs and a carbon reduction of 778 tons annually.

CMA CGM is the third-largest container shipping company in the world, and since 2022, it has set a strategic goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This French company’s choice of Chinese manufacturing has brought Chinese inland new energy vessels into the global spotlight.

New Energy Shipbuilding, which undertook this order, was established in 2022 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shandong Ronghui Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shandong Ronghui Group”), focusing on the research, design, and manufacturing of inland new energy vessels powered by LNG, electric power, and hydrogen. Its parent company is a national leader in the large-scale, intelligent, and green manufacturing of inland new energy vessels.

According to Zhang Qiang, the Party Secretary and Chairman of New Energy Shipbuilding, the significance of this ship goes beyond a mere product export. It has not only taught New Energy Shipbuilding how to operate according to international regulations but also prompted hundreds of local equipment suppliers for shaft and rudder systems, anchor machinery, and other equipment to enter the global supply chain for the first time. Through this project, core technologies such as containerized battery swapping, ship-electric separation, and intelligent bridge systems have been solidified, forming a replicable standardized template. This means that the technologies, standards, and models of China’s inland new energy vessels are beginning to genuinely enter the global high-end market.

Solving the “Creating Something from Nothing” Challenge

The construction process of the 182TEU fully electric container ship was not smooth sailing. Zhang Qiang recalled, “The challenges were immense and even all-encompassing. The specifications of the French classification society (BV) and the limitations of Vietnam’s complex inland waterways were a new topic for the Chinese design team.”

“First, there was the challenge of creating something from nothing in design, as there was no existing experience to follow, and we could only start from scratch, repeatedly overturning and redoing our work.” Zhang Qiang explained that Vietnam’s inland waters have many shallow areas and winding channels, requiring the vessels to have a shallow draft and low resistance. However, CMA CGM’s operational requirements demanded high cargo capacity and long range, meaning that within the limited length of 79.9 meters, four sets of containerized batteries with a total capacity of nearly 8,000 kWh had to be scientifically arranged while ensuring that the draft did not exceed the hard limit of 4.5 meters.

Secondly, there was the challenge of international certification for the supply chain. Zhang Qiang stated, “Domestic inland vessels have long followed the specifications of the China Classification Society, which differ from those of international classification societies like BV. This ship needed to comply fully with BV’s international specifications, meaning not only the shipyard itself but also all equipment suppliers had to obtain BV product certification. The reality is that many mature domestic inland vessel equipment suppliers have production systems and certification experiences aimed at the domestic market, with almost no knowledge of international classification standards and certification processes.”

Zhang Qiang used a vivid metaphor: “We not only had to build the ship but also play the roles of ‘mentor’ and ‘translator.’ New Energy Shipbuilding needed to organize shipowners and classification societies to deeply engage with supplier manufacturers, overseeing the entire process from bench testing to production techniques, ensuring compliance and rectification to help these local enterprises cross the threshold of international certification.”

Even during the specific manufacturing phase, challenges persisted. Zhang Qiang introduced that the French party’s stringent quality and safety requirements were reflected in every tiny detail. For instance, in the manufacturing of the rudder blade, due to its confined internal space, traditional processes could only use spot welding, but this approach was firmly rejected by the French, who believed it could threaten structural strength. The team had to work on-site with suppliers to urgently develop a new steel lining welding process, which ultimately gained approval.

“This has brought a thorough cleansing and reshaping of the production management system for companies like ours, which are accustomed to traditional inland shipbuilding models,” Zhang Qiang noted.

In November 2024, CMA CGM signed a letter of intent with New Energy Shipbuilding to purchase fully electric container ships. The construction of the 182TEU fully electric container transport vessel officially began on June 10, 2025, taking about nine months from the start of construction to launch. The ship is planned to be put into operation on the green shipping route from Binh Duong Province to Cai Mep Port, belonging to the inland-port short-distance transport model.

The 182TEU fully electric container transport vessel has an overall length of 79.9 meters, a beam of 15 meters, and a designed (molded) draft of 4.1 meters, with a carrying capacity of 3,500 tons. The battery energy storage system (BESS) is supplied by CATL, with the vessel equipped with four containerized batteries of 1,959 kWh each. The annual transport volume exceeds 50,000 TEUs, and it is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 778 tons annually, providing solid support for CMA CGM Group’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

Matthieu Courtois, the on-site manager for new ship construction in China for CMA CGM, stated that amid the global green wave, CMA CGM is placing sustainable development at the core of its strategy. The choice of Chinese manufacturing is not only a market decision but also an acknowledgment of the technological strength of China’s inland new energy vessels.

Zhang Guangyu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Shandong Ronghui Group, explained that New Energy Shipbuilding has gained the trust of international leading enterprises based on its core advantages of automation, intelligence, and greenness. This is a key breakthrough for the group’s industrial transformation and expansion into overseas markets. Shandong Ronghui Group is accelerating the creation of an integrated ecosystem of new energy vessels encompassing research and development, manufacturing, and operation, continuously leading the green upgrade of inland shipping.

Inland Shipping Expected to Ignite the “Battery Swapping Revolution”

This fully electric container ship, set to sail to Vietnam, is equipped with four containerized batteries of 1,959 kWh each. “This is the essence of the ship’s design,” Zhang Qiang stated.

The so-called “ship-electric separation” refers to borrowing the idea from electric vehicles’ “vehicle-electric separation,” standardizing the batteries as replaceable units that can be quickly hoisted and swapped at charging and swapping stations, making it as convenient as swapping batteries in cars, thus solving the problem of long charging times for fully electric vessels.

“The battery system is by no means a simple ‘just put it on’; it is the result of deep integration with the vessel and the shipping route,” Zhang Qiang introduced. To adapt to this swappable system, New Energy Shipbuilding conducted in-depth joint research and development with CATL, not only designing specific structural adjustments for the hull but also planning exclusive “compartments” for the four “energy units” within limited space, while considering weight distribution to optimize the vessel’s sailing balance and draft depth. Coupled with future charging and swapping stations along the route, this system can achieve a rapid battery swap in 15 minutes and a range of 270 kilometers. Additionally, the ship has reserved interfaces for photovoltaic systems, providing possibilities for future multi-energy complementarity.

Under traditional charging models, inland vessels rely on port charging piles, but the penetration rate of charging facilities at inland ports is low, and different ports have inconsistent charging standards, requiring vessels to connect to charging piles for long periods after docking. Meanwhile, batteries account for about 30% of the total cost of the vessel, with high initial investment posing a significant burden on small and medium-sized shipowners. The “ship-electric separation” model precisely addresses these pain points.

In Zhang Qiang’s view, the core advantages of ship-electric separation can be summarized in three aspects: “cost-saving, time-saving, and worry-free.”

Taking the 182TEU fully electric container transport vessel as an example: cost-saving is achieved because shipowners do not need to bear the cost of the batteries, directly reducing the initial investment by about 40%. Daily operations are charged by usage, unaffected by international fuel price fluctuations; time-saving is realized because the battery swapping mode compresses the refueling time to 15 minutes, which is crucial for inland transport efficiency, completely alleviating the long waiting time of 5 to 8 hours for shore-based charging, thus not affecting the shipping schedule; worry-free is due to the box-type power supply being certified by the classification society, utilizing existing port berths for modification, and reusing mature container logistics systems to transport batteries, with infrastructure thresholds far lower than those required for LNG and hydrogen energy dedicated pipelines.

Zhuang Zhanting, Deputy General Manager of CATL Electric Ship Technology Co., Ltd., stated that the value of this ship goes far beyond the vessel itself; it connects Nike’s green supply chain, CMA CGM’s low-carbon shipping network, CATL’s battery ecosystem, and New Energy Shipbuilding’s intelligent manufacturing capabilities, forming a zero-carbon logistics closed loop from “factory to port to global.” This is not just a new logistics route but also an innovative practice path for a low-carbon supply chain.

The Ministry of Transport and five other departments issued the “Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Inland Shipping” in 2025, clearly stating that for medium and large, long-distance scenarios, they will actively promote technologies like LNG and methanol power; and for small and medium-sized, short-distance scenarios, they will accelerate the application of battery power technology. This policy orientation provides an application space for the “ship-electric separation” model.

Zhang Qiang admitted that the “ship-electric separation” model is currently in a critical period of transitioning from technical validation to large-scale commercial replication, and its limited large-scale adoption is mainly constrained by three bottlenecks: first, “network sparsity,” as the density and coverage of swapping stations are still insufficient, leading shipowners to worry that they cannot travel far after purchasing the ship; second, “standard inconsistency,” as the interfaces and communication protocols of box-type power supplies are not unified, restricting the efficiency of inter-regional joint operations; third, “model establishment pending,” as small and medium-sized shipowners require an adaptation period to accept new business models, and the cooperation mechanisms of battery banks and third-party operations still need improvement.

According to the “White Paper on the Development of China’s Electric Ship Industry (2022)” released by research institute EVTank, it is expected that by 2026, the market size of China’s electric ships will reach 36.75 billion yuan.

Zhang Qiang indicated that in the field of inland fully electric vessels, the current technical challenges mainly lie in balancing battery energy density with costs, synchronously constructing charging and swapping infrastructure, and how to achieve more precise range optimization for different shipping routes. The company is preparing for systematic layout in the global market by iterating more efficient box-type power supply systems and “ship-station-cloud” collaborative solutions through deep cooperation with CATL to address these challenges.