Straits patrol ship launched

Vessel to safeguard maritime interests,enforce laws, aid in searches, rescues

Construction of what will become the largest patrol ship in the Taiwan Straits is basically finished, the Fujian Provincial Maritime Safety Administration said.

The Haixun 06 was launched on Monday at the Shuangliu Shipbuilding Base in Wuhan, Hubei province, the administration said in a news release.

In shipbuilding terminology, launch refers to a nearly finished ship being moved into the water. It is one of the most important stages in a ship's construction because once a ship is launched, it means that its main structures have been readied and all the major construction work has been completed.

The ship has been under construction by China State Shipbuilding Corp's Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry since May 2019.

Expected to be commissioned before the end of this year, Haixun 06 will become the largest patrol and rescue vessel in the Taiwan Straits and also the most advanced ship operated by the administration, the news release said.

In the next phase, engineers will start outfitting and fine-tuning the vessel's equipment and then conduct mooring tests and sea trials.

Designed by the China Ship Development and Design Center in Wuhan, also a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp, Haixun 06 will be 128.6 meters long, 16 meters wide and displace 5,560 metric tons. Its maximum speed will be about 20 knots, or 37 kilometers per hour. The ship will be able to operate as long as 60 days without any resupply and travel more than 18,500 km in a single voyage.

It will be able to operate in strong waves and will be tasked with conducting law-enforcement patrols, safeguarding maritime interests, responding to emergencies, search and rescue, and extinguishing fires, designers said.

The vessel will carry a medium-duty helicopter that will improve its effectiveness in search-and-rescue operations, they said. It will be capable of accommodating 200 people saved from ships in distress and providing simple medical treatment to them.

Meanwhile, China Merchants Heavy Industry in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, is constructing what designers expect to be one of the world's most advanced rescue ships.

The ship, which has yet to be named, was designed by China State Shipbuilding Corp's Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute and is scheduled to be delivered around the end of 2022 to the Transport Ministry's Nanhai Rescue Bureau for search-and-rescue operations in the South China Sea.

With two powerful 7,000-kilowatt engines, the ship will have a full displacement of more than 16,000 tons, and will be 136.9 meters long and 26.7 meters wide, making it the heaviest and largest of its kind in China.

It will be capable of sailing nearly 30,000 km or operating 90 days in a single operation without needing to reach port or receive supplies, the institute said.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn