Ship built by GSI for Australia’s FMG named Matilda

A 261,000 DWT (dead weight ton) ore carrier Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Ltd (GSI) built for Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FMG) was named Matilda in Guangzhou, Guangdong’s provincial capital, on Wednesday.

“I name you ‘FMG Matilda’ as you sail the waters of the world. May your journeys be smooth and your tasks successful. May you bring happiness to the crew and may you bring prosperity and pride to the ship owner and all,” said Godmother Julie Shuttleworth, deputy CEO of FMG.

The vessel is 327 meters long, the breadth molded of 57 meters, the depth molded of ore 25.2 meters, and the scantling draft molded of 18.8 meters. And the design loading rate is 16,000 tons an hour.

Chen Ji, president of GSI, said the Matilda is one of the four vessels GSI is building for FMG.

“GSI signed contacts with FMG to build four vessels for FMG in July 2014,” said Chen.

The rest of the three vessels will be completed in the first half of the next year.

“GSI is expecting to further expand its cooperation with FMG in the iron ore and shipping industries in the years ahead,” Chen said.

Elizabeth Gaines, CEO of FMG, said her company has established close relation with GSI, and GSI’s shipbuilding technologies and prices are very competitive.

“The new vessels are expected to help FMG save production cost when they are put into use,” she said.

FMG is Australia’s third-largest ore exporter.

According to Gaines, FMG has sold more than 935 million tons of iron ore to Chinese mainland since 2008, and the figure is expected to soon surpass more than I billion tons in the early 2018.

GSI, one of the major shipyards in the mainland, is a Shanghai Stock Exchange listed company. It has a production capacity of more than 3 million DWT annually.