Advertisement
China to develop dredger ‘more powerful than artificial island-builder of South China Sea’
- Self-propelled suction machine will feature a 10,000kW reamer, adding to the country’s fleet
- ‘The new vessel is not just a simple enlargement ... but a qualitative leap forward’: chief engineer
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
59
China is developing a record-breaking dredger 50 per cent more powerful than its existing “super island builder”, the project’s chief engineer said.
Advertisement
The new self-propelled suction dredger being developed will feature a 10,000kW reamer, the first in the world, according to Qin Bin, chief engineer of the Tianjin Waterway Bureau, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).
12:02
Lost Lands: Mining the Mekong
Lost Lands: Mining the Mekong
In comparison, its predecessor the Tian Jing – the main vessel involved in building China’s controversial artificial islands in the South China Sea in 2013 and 2014 – has a reamer power of 4,400kW and the Tian Kun, a vessel commissioned in 2019 as the most powerful of its kind in Asia, has 6,600kW in power.
Both Tian Jing and Tian Kun are owned and operated by the Tianjin Waterway Bureau Co, which has the most powerful dredger fleet in the world.
“The development of the new vessel is not just a simple enlargement in terms of reamer power, hull size etc, but a qualitative leap forward,” Qin, also a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said on the sidelines of the CPPCC annual session.
Advertisement
A dredger is a vessel that can blast through the rock on the bed of a river or the sea with its reamer, suck up rocks and sand and pump them through a pipe over a distance. They are used to clear navigation waterways or to build artificial islands.
Advertisement