Chinese Dreamers EP01｜Brave the Wind and the Waves

周清华：船舶制造的破浪者

Brave the Wind and the Waves

不停地奔跑才能留在原地。

We have to continue to run just to stay in place.

扭转液化气船核心技术的卡脖子局面。

Fixing the bottle-neck of the core technologies for liquefied gas ships.

我能不能做出属于中国船舶人的一个专利技术？

Can we create a patented technology that belongs to Chinese shipbuilders ourselves?

勇当颠覆者

Brave the wind and the waves.

His miracle came as the new era for gas shipping began with the need for ethane transport. At heart of the Very Large Ethane Carriers, lies the crucial Type B cargo containment system, ensuring the liquefied gas can be carried safe and sound.

他职业生涯的“追梦之旅”始于液化气航运的新时代——乙烷运输。超大型乙烷运输船的核心技术便是B型舱货物维护系统，保证液化气的安全运输。

一艘船有3种类型4个这样的B型舱。

Each ship has 4 Type B tanks, 3 kinds of them. 

周清华 江南造船超大型乙烷运输船副总工艺师

Zhou Qinghua, VLEC deputy chief technologist, JIANGNAN SHIPYARD

下定决心那一刻去研发中国完全自主的BrilliancE货物维护系统，其实它是勇闯无人区了。

When we decided to develop China's own B-tank cargo containment system, BrilliancE, it was like rushing into no man's land.

从1019年12月30号签的两条船，直到今天（2022年12月）我们总共签了16条VLEC，也没想到这个市场这么（高的）一个认可程度。

From the first 2 VLECs signed on Dec.30th, 2019, to now, we have signed contracts for 16 VLECs. I never imagined that the system would gain such acceptance in the market.

He is the chief inventor of China's first and still the only self-developed Type-B cargo containment system for VLECs, Zhou Qinghua. The world's first 99,000-cubic-meter VLEC - the largest ethane carrier so far - uses just that Type-B tank created by his team.

他就是中国第一个，也是目前唯一一个自主研发的超大型乙烷运输船BrilliancE B型货物围护系统的主要创造者——周清华。全球首艘9.9万立方米超大型乙烷运输船-目前全球最大的VLEC船型使用的正是他的团队研发的B型舱。

From creating the first VLEC, to now, when it holds the most VLEC orders in the world, took 8 years for Zhou Qinghua's team at the Jiangnan Shipyard. The most frequent word I heard from Zhou was "Tough".

从开始研发创造第一艘超大型乙烷运输船，到现在，江南造船拥有全球最大的VLEC市场份额，周清华的团队用了整整8年的时间。在交谈中，周清华提到最多的词是“艰辛”。

周清华 江南造船超大型乙烷运输船副总工艺师

Zhou Qinghua, VLEC deputy chief technologist, JIANGNAN SHIPYARD

从2014年到今年2022年第一次装卸货成功，过程是充满了艰辛。

From 2014 to the successful loading and unloading of cargo this year, has been full of hardship.

当时主流的技术还是法国GTT的专利，它的市场占有率当时是95%。如果说我要再去造这样一艘运乙烷的超大型乙烷运输船，我都需要支付5%-10%的专利费，实际上它简直就把我们整个利润全部都削掉了，在这种情况下也逼迫着我们要去思考一定要创造出中国人自己的维护系统。

The dominant technology then was that of the French firm GTT, which had a 95% market share. So if we had to build a VLEC, we had to pay 5 or 10% in patent fees, which would have eaten up all our profits. So given that, we thought that we should create our own containment system.

His childhood dream has brought him to what he is today, the deputy chief technologist of the Very Large Ethane Carrier.

儿时的梦想推动着他成为了如今的超大型乙烷运输船副总工艺师。

周清华 江南造船超大型乙烷运输船副总工艺师

Zhou Qinghua, VLEC deputy chief technologist, JIANGNAN SHIPYARD

我是来自于鱼米之乡的荆州。船是小时候见过很多，但是都是在长江内河跑的船。当时我就有一个想法，我是不是将来有可能去设计、建造一条大型的船舶——远洋的船舶，也是怀着这个梦想，其实我是通过高考，后来选择了船舶与海洋工程这个专业，当时我的想法我希望我也能成为船舶设计大师。

I came from Jingzhou, a land of fish and rice, so I saw a lot of ships in my childhood. But they were just ships sailing on the Yangtze River. At that time, I dreamed of designing and building a large ship, that could sail across the ocean. With this dream, I chose the naval architecture and marine engineering major in the college entrance examination.

但是实际上船舶行业对比于现在新兴的产业来说其实它更加辛苦，没有表面的那么光鲜，它需要持续的深入的投入，需要足够热爱这个行业，你要去坚持它，它就不是3年、5年，有可能10年才有小成，我现在就是在一步一步地在往前朝着自己的目标在迈进。

Actually, the shipbuilding industry was much tougher compared with emerging industries now. It's not that glamorous. It requires deep effort and much love for the industry. You have to persist in it. It's not just 3 or 5 years' work. Sometimes, it takes 10 years to make a small achievement. I'm now just moving step by step towards my goal.

Voyaging towards his goal, his determination helped him navigate to success.

在向目标一步步迈进的路上，是他的坚定决心成就了他的圆梦。

Zhang Shixuan, Reporter

张诗璇 记者

我前面看您工牌上照片好像还挺早之前拍的。

I see that the photo on your ID card seems to have been taken quite a while ago.

周清华 江南造船超大型乙烷运输船副总工艺师

Zhou Qinghua, VLEC deputy chief technologist, JIANGNAN SHIPYARD

我是13年7月份来的江南（造船），当时拍的工作证，和现在差别还蛮大的。也是因为14年开始做B型舱研发之后，操了不少心，熬了很多夜，你看到我头发是白了不少。

I came to Jiangnan Shipyard in July, 2013. This photo was actually taken at that time. A sharp contrast to how I look now. It was actually in 2014 when I started R&D work on the system. I've made a lot of effort, and stayed up late very often. You can see that my hair has turned grey.

我们这个罐子它是通过多种类型的支撑系统，就一个支撑系统，我可能就要画30种方案，是非常正常的。而这30种方案背后，就意味着，我每一种方案都需要一个理论的支撑。

This tank requires multiple types of supportive systems. And for each system, I had to draw 30 different plans. Each plan is supported by a theory.

胡可一 江南造船科技委主任

Hu Keyi, Director,Science & Technology Committee, JIANGNAN SHIPYARD

我跟我们公司董事长汇报这个事情已经是2017年了。董事长问搞这个技术到底国际上能领先吗？我说我这个是可以的。而且我说我下面团队里已经有人了。那个时候证明给船东看是非常困难的。

It was in 2017 that I told the chairman of the board of our company about this work. And he asked me if the technology can be a leading one in the globe. I said yes. And I've already got people doing this. Proving the technology to ship owners were very difficult at that time.

周清华 江南造船超大型乙烷运输船副总工艺师

Zhou Qinghua, VLEC deputy chief technologist, JIANGNAN SHIPYARD

打开这个（人孔盖）之后，通过直梯，沿着这个船的舱壁往下走，去检查整个液罐表面的质量。将近30米的高度，也相当危险，我们要经常下去检查。

We have to go down almost 30 meters under this cover, to see the integrity and quality of the tank's heat preservation system, to make sure that the workers are doing things exactly according to the blueprints. It's dangerous, but we had to check very often.

长时间地，从晚上8:00一直到6:00，我们一直持续地在现场待着。

We often worked from 8 pm to 6 am, staying at the site.

这艘船是我们的第四艘（VLEC），不仅有B型舱，我们这个船首，有点像鲸鱼的头一样，用的是江南自主研发的VS-BOW第二代（专利）技术，能保证船以最快的速度、以最小的油耗航行。

This is our 4th VLEC. Not just the Type B tank. The bow is like the head of a whale. It was also designed with our own patented technology, VS-BOW, to ensure the ship can sail at the fastest speed, with the least fuel consumption.

Zhang Shixuan, Reporter

张诗璇 记者

I think this single stairway is about 2 and a half floors tall and there are still some stairs waiting for me even though I'm already a little tired. But this is a normal climb for the designer, the technicians, and the hundreds of thousands of workers here. They are all pursing their own dreams to help China fulfill a larger dream, sailing into a massive shipbuilding industry.

这一段楼梯大概有2.5层楼高，前面还有不少等着我。我已经感觉有点累了。但这对于这位设计师以及江南造船的几万名员工而言，是习以为常的工作内容。他们都在追求着自己的梦想，来帮助中国实现一个更大的目标——成为造船强国。

周清华 江南造船超大型乙烷运输船副总工艺师

Zhou Qinghua, VLEC deputy chief technologist, JIANGNAN SHIPYARD

施工的环境相当恶劣的，尤其是狭小封闭环境里施工特别多，当遇到夏天极热、冬天极冷的环境。我们的工人包括我在内，就在这种环境下去作业，解决现场的问题。

The construction environment is very tough, especially in small and enclosed areas. And in extremely hot or cold weather.  It can reach 40 degrees during the summer. 

胡可一 江南造船科技委主任

Hu Keyi, Director,Science & Technology Committee, JIANGNAN SHIPYARD

如果说我们还是停留在一些散货船、油轮这些常规船的建造，可能我们就竞争不过别人，但是我们开发液化气船的这个小众市场VLGC、VLEC，实际上我们把这个竞争舞台搬到了跟韩国去竞争了，而不是跟我们国内船厂在中国竞争。像我们VLEC的船型，我们现在处于国际上领跑的这个位置，VLGC同样的我们也是领跑的位置。形成了批量（接单）。造船这些批量已经很不容易了。

If we just stopped at building conventional ships like bulk cargo ships and cruise tankers, we could not retain our competitiveness. But now that we've opened up the niche liquified gas carrier market, we are competing with global shipbuilders. So we are not competing with local counterparts. Our VLEC and VLGC are already taking the lead globally. That's very remarkable in the shipbuilding industry.

Zhang Shixuan, Reporter

张诗璇 记者

The last time I came here was five months ago, and many of the ships I can see now were not even here then. Many of the vessels I saw under construction then have already been delivered. So you can imagine the fast construction pace of the shipyard here. Chinese shipbuilders have been ranking first in global market share for 12 consecutive years now.

我上一次来这里是5个月前。我现在看到的很多船在那时候并不在这里。那时候我看到的一些船也已经交付了。所以你可以想象这里的造船速度之快。中国船舶业已连续12年在国际市场的份额居于世界首位。

周清华 江南造船超大型乙烷运输船副总工艺师

Zhou Qinghua, VLEC deputy chief technologist, JIANGNAN SHIPYARD

更大的感触是一个成长，伴随着我们公司的成长，伴随着我们中国航运业、船舶行业的成长，这个感受其实是没法用言语表达出来的。

I feel like we have been growing China's shipping industry and the shipbuilding industry at the same time. It's hard to express.

接下来我们将把这门技术去拓展，结合我们的新材料，将来会在国家的（绿色）能源体系上发挥更大作用，（更多）船型都会用到我们江南的技术，我们对此也非常有信心，也是在走之前我们走过的这些技术攻关的路，但我们现在更加有信心了，应该说我们也更有实力了。

Next, we will add new materials to extend the technologies to the full series of ships in China. We are fully confident about that. We are now much stronger given our previous experience in tech breakthroughs.

And they are all hands on deck.

所有造船人都已经整装待发。