Ardenne Venture, A 318,000 DWT VLCC

The 318,000 dwt VLCC Ardenne Venture built at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI) was delivered to Wah Kwong Shipping, Hong Kong on September 8, 2004.

The ship has one continuous freeboard deck from stem to stern with sunken deck-type stern deck, transverse bulkheads and four longitudinal bulkheads in way of the cargo space.

Special attention has been paid to the ship's maneuverability resulting in a large rudder being fitted.

Ardenne Venture is designed to carry three grades of cargo simultaneously, handled by three steam turbine cargo pumps, each delivering 5,000 cu. m./hr. and housed in a pump room at the forward of engine room. The cargo and ballast valve's control systems are hydraulic medium pressure.

The cargo and ballast control systems of the ship are elctro-hydraulically operated. Cargo control and monitoring covers ullage measurement, operation of pumps, inert gas systems with manual control also available. Radar beam type level gauges have been fitted to cargo tanks, with electro pneumatic type level gauges used in the ballast tanks.

The ship to have five center cargo oil tanks, five pairs of side cargo oil tanks, one pair of slop tanks and water ballast tanks surrounding cargo oil tanks to be arranged. Double bottom and double hull construction to be arranged throughout cargo oil tanks with longitudinal framing.

The vessel has an overall length of 1092 ft. (333 m), width of 196.8 ft. (60 m) and depth of 99.7 ft. (30.4 m) with a design draft of 68.9 ft. (21 m). She is powered by a Hyundai-B&W 6S90MC-C main engine with an MCR output of 29,340 kW at 76 rpm, enabling her to sail at a service speed of 16.1 knots. Electric power is supplied by three main diesel generators with an output of 1,170 kW at 720 rpm and one 250 kW emergency generator. The Ship is classed by BV, I +HULL +MACH, Oil Tanker ESP, unrestricted navigation, Veristar hull, SPM AUT-MS.