China's large buoy working ship delivered

WUHAN/SHANGHAI -- China's large buoy working ship Xiangyanghong 22 was delivered to the East China Sea Branch of the State Oceanic Administration in Shanghai Tuesday.

Built by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited, the ship is China's first 3,000-tonnage buoy working ship, with a length of 89.65 meters and a width of 18 meters.

Buoys are the most important means of ocean monitoring at present. The larger the buoy, the more detection equipment can be installed, which can effectively monitor sea waves, sea temperature, the marine ecological environment, typhoons and tsunamis.

After delivery, it will help expand the scope of China's ocean observation and improve the country's global ocean observation level.

"When put into operation, it will break the equipment bottleneck in the support work such as the deployment, recovery and emergency repair of large buoys, and further strengthen China's support capability of large buoys," said Wei Bin, project manager of Xiangyanghong 22.

Wu Qiang, director of the East China Sea Bureau of Ministry of Natural Resources, said at present, it is China's only working ship with the ability to lift and store 10-meter-wide ocean monitoring buoys.

The ship has a cruising range of 10,000 nautical miles and a maximum speed of 16 knots. It will be used for the deployment and maintenance of buoys, as well as conducting a comprehensive ocean survey, according to Wu.