A Chinese company has received an order from a Belgian ship owner to build the world's first ammonia-powered container ship, marking a new breakthrough for the country's shipbuilding industry in clean energy-powered maritime delivery, according to the China State Shipbuilding Corp, or CSSC.

The container vessel, which has a capacity of 1,400 TEUs, or twenty-foot equivalent units, will be designed, researched and developed independently by the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute, a unit of the CSSC.

With a length of around 150 meters and a width of around 27 meters, the ship will be built by the Qingdao Shipyard Co Ltd. After its delivery the vessel will mainly serve routes between Norway and Germany, and CSSC says it is expected to save about 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute has been designing a series of low carbon and environmentally friendly vessels with market competitiveness, and is set to offer more Chinese solutions for the global shipping industry's sustainable development.