To test the changes, embark on a journey of intelligent numbers—China Classification Society Jiangsu Branch promotes the implementation of digital ship delivery.

At present, the artificial intelligence (AI) digital human technology is in full swing. From virtual anchors to digital employees, people are creating another "self" in the digital world. In the shipbuilding industry, a similar replication is happening—the world's first 325,000-ton methanol-powered dual-fuel very large ore carrier (VLOC) "Yuanhai Silk Road" will deliver its exclusive highly precise, full-dimensional "digital ship" simultaneously before its formal physical delivery in October this year.

Recently, the Jiangsu Branch of China Classification Society (CCS) has focused on its core business of ship inspection and has deeply explored the digital delivery of ships. It successfully transformed the concept of digital ship inspection into practical, replicable, and promotable real-world applications, providing a benchmark example for the digital transformation of China's shipbuilding industry and fostering new productive forces.

Intelligent Manufacturing Embeds “Digital DNA” in Massive Ships

As the largest methanol dual-fuel powered VLOC in China, the "Yuanhai Silk Road" ship is characterized by its pioneering digital delivery features in the industry.

The fully digitalized delivery system applied to this ship represents a major innovation to the traditional ship delivery mode. For a long time, domestic ship deliveries heavily relied on large volumes of paper drawings, certificates, and equipment manuals, making the information scattered and hard to retrieve. After taking ownership of the ships, owners often had to spend months sorting and verifying documents, with inefficient access to key data such as pipeline layout, equipment parameters, and maintenance information, directly impacting the efficiency of ship operations, repairs, and modifications.

With the technological support and full-process supervision of the CCS Jiangsu Branch, the "Yuanhai Silk Road" achieved simultaneous delivery of the physical ship and its digital twin. While receiving the physical vessel, the owner also acquires a lightweight 3D digital model covering the entire ship, integrating design, equipment, certificates, maintenance, spare parts, and other comprehensive data. Through the visualized digital platform, staff can instantly retrieve all ship equipment information, piping layouts, and compliance documents, eliminating the paper-based search model and enabling data visualization and intelligent operations and maintenance management.

Digital delivery brings comprehensive efficiency improvements to ship owners' operations. In terms of compliance inspection, data certificates are unified from the same source, supporting remote pre-audits and pre-inspections, reducing time spent onboard, achieving a digital closed-loop for defect rectification, and enhancing inspection efficiency. In the area of maintenance and operation, the 3D visualized model reduces the operational threshold for sailors, links equipment digital archives with maintenance plans, accelerates fault handling, and supports digital crew training. For ship modifications, the 3D digital model can pinpoint modification boundaries and interfaces precisely, eliminating the need for repeated on-site measurements and enabling synchronized updates of digital assets post-modification. Regarding spare parts management, the digital delivery platform supports one-click extraction of structured parts lists and optimizes inventory strategies by combining equipment operation data, effectively reducing operating costs.

The selection of the "Yuanhai Silk Road" as the first verification vessel was no coincidence. It is one of the key project platforms in China COSCO Shipping Group's "Ship, Cargo, People" three-in-one technological innovation initiative, aligning perfectly with the strategic positioning of digital delivery demonstration implementation. During the project construction period, the Zhenjiang Office of CCS Jiangsu Branch formed an on-site inspection task force to address challenges such as complex project processes, high integration of new technologies, and difficulties in quality control. The team focused on key aspects, including the ship's structural design, the methanol dual-fuel propulsion system, and the digital delivery system, ensuring the construction quality and data compliance from start to finish, thus laying a solid foundation for digital delivery implementation.

Three Certificates in Succession Achieve Complete Delivery Capability Loop

From concept realization and system compliance to vessel verification, the CCS Jiangsu Branch has established the first complete domestic compliance chain for ship digital delivery.

On May 7, the CCS Jiangsu Branch issued the first-ever Approval in Principle (AIP) certificate for a concept-level digital ship delivery to Yangzhou COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry. The AIP primarily evaluates the digital delivery checklist and implementation plan, clarifying the definition of a "conceptual digital ship based on digital delivery." It certifies the feasibility and scientific validity of the project plan at a conceptual level, laying the compliance foundation for subsequent system construction and real-world implementation.

On July 11, at the 2026 China Maritime Day event, CCS issued the world's first General Design Approval (GDA) certificate for a ship digital delivery system to COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry. This certification covered all aspects, including system requirements specifications, business processes, overall design, and prototype development. It thoroughly assessed the compliance, stability, and professionalism of the digital delivery system, marking the official formation of a standardized system for digital ship delivery.

In October, coinciding with the completion and delivery of the "Yuanhai Silk Road," CCS is actively pursuing the issuance of the first bulk carrier classification certificate supplemented with "Digital Delivery (HM, ED)" notations. This certificate finalizes verification across six core dimensions, rigorously ensuring the consistency between the digital ship and the physical vessel, the completeness of delivered data, the accuracy of information flow, and the safety and practicality of the delivery system, thus achieving a final closed loop from system certification to real-world application.

"AIP defines the concept, GDA certifies the system, and classification certificates validate the physical ship," summarized the CCS Jiangsu Branch's project technical lead. "These three complement and reinforce each other, collectively forming a complete capabilities blueprint for CCS in the field of digital delivery."

Behind the impressive achievements lies a path of technical breakthroughs. With collaborative support from the headquarters and the information center, the CCS Jiangsu Branch effectively tackled challenges such as inconsistent upstream and downstream data standards in shipbuilding, massive model sizes, and potential data transfer inaccuracies. By maximizing the advantages of local inspections, the team verified and integrated all collected data throughout the process, layer by layer, ensuring that the data from design, construction, and delivery are accurate, traceable, and without deviations, bridging the "last mile" of digital delivery.

Inspection Innovation Outputs a Replicable Jiangsu Solution

As an experienced ship inspector once said, traditional inspection logic revolves around “physical presence and eyesight”—inspectors need to be physically present, examine by sight, touch, and experience. The implementation of digital delivery has propelled CCS's ship inspection work toward a comprehensive and profound transformation, forming a dual-dimensional inspection system of “data inspection + on-site verification.”

Relying on the new digital model, inspection work is no longer limited to concentrated document reviews before delivery. Instead, real-time recording, synchronized transmission, and dynamic verification of data throughout the construction process have been achieved. The team not only checks the construction quality of the physical ship but also focuses on verifying the consistency of digital delivery data with the physical vessel, the reliability of delivery software operation, and the completeness of the end-to-end data flow. This approach prevents data tampering risks, ensures ship compliance, significantly reduces repeated work for ship inspectors, and improves the accuracy and efficiency of inspections.

To address the complex working conditions of overlapping technologies such as intelligent systems and digital delivery, the CCS Jiangsu Branch formed a special team composed of in-house digital experts and experienced frontline ship inspectors. They were fully involved in tasks such as project evaluation, risk assessment, 3D model review, on-site inspection, and sea trials. By strictly adhering to international conventions and industry standards, they comprehensively validated the safety performance of all ship systems, ensuring that all innovative technologies were implemented stably and compliantly.

Leveraging the practical experience of the "Yuanhai Silk Road," CCS took the lead in establishing special inspection standards, full-process inspection checklists, and work guidelines for digital delivery. It overcame the challenges of integrating new energy propulsion systems with digital platforms, realizing functionalities such as key equipment 3D demonstrations and digital training. This achievement has fully completed the end-to-end data flow from "design–construction–inspection–shipowner operations," laying mature practical foundations for the batch digital delivery of VLOCs and bulk carriers.

Regarding industry promotion, the CCS Jiangsu Branch has implemented a tailored service approach of "adapting to local conditions and customizing strategies for each shipyard," balancing the leadership of industry giants and the inclusive development of small and medium-sized shipyards. For leading enterprises, CCS collaborates with headquarters digital experts to provide customized technical support, empowering companies to build their own digital delivery systems. For small and medium-sized shipyards requiring digital delivery, CCS offers “turnkey” services coordinated throughout the entire process, minimizing the costs of digital transformation. For private shipowners and other small and medium-sized shipyards, CCS regularly conducts outreach initiatives on digital policies and technologies, fostering market demand and solidifying the foundation for the industry's digital transformation, ensuring that digital transformation achieves both technical excellence and service warmth.

The "Yuanhai Silk Road," embarking on distant voyages, is a vivid example of the intelligent and digital transformation of China's shipbuilding industry. Anchored in the broader strategy of accelerating the construction of a transportation powerhouse, the CCS Jiangsu Branch will continue to deepen its focus on ship digitalization, optimize digital delivery solutions, empower industrial upgrading through professional inspections, and foster new productive capabilities through technological innovation, contributing to the high-quality development of China's shipping and shipbuilding industries.