14,000 Kilowatt Large Cruiser Rescue Ship
China says it is nearing completion of a 450-foot-long search and rescue ship, the largest such vessel in its fleet, that will enter service with the Ministry of Transport’s South China Sea Rescue Bureau. The ship will dwarf coastguard vessels from other nations in those disputed waters, where accidents at sea are increasingly common, and China’s maritime presence looms increasingly large. A subsidiary of state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation announced the completion and installation of stabilizer components for the search and rescue (SAR) ship 28 May 2020.
China State Shipbuilding Corp designed what it said is the world's most advanced rescue ship, and planned to commission it around 2021. The State-owned shipbuilder's Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute said in a statement that the ship, which had yet to be named, would be tasked with conducting search-and-rescue operations in the South China Sea with the Transport Ministry's Nanhai Rescue Bureau.
It would be powered by two 7,000-kilowatt engines and have a displacement of more than 16,000 metric tons. It will be 133 meters long and 26 meters wide, making it the heaviest and largest of its kind in China. It would be capable of sailing nearly 30,000 kilometers or operating 90 days in a single operation without needing to reach port or receive supplies, the institute said, adding that the ship's cruising speed will be 17.5 knots, or 32 kilometers per hour.
The vessel would be able to conduct search, rescue and salvage tasks for ships, aircraft and submarines in very tough conditions, as it can withstand typhoons as strong as 12 on the Beaufort scale. In addition to rescue and salvage operations, the ship can also be used to tow disabled ships, monitor oil spills, perform deep-water scanning and surveys, extinguish fires or ferry supplies to vessels in emergencies.
Shi Gongqian, the ship's project manager, said 20 July 2018 the craft is designed to carry 30 crew members and up to 90 search-and-rescue personnel, and it will be capable of accommodating as many as 200 people rescued from disasters. "The ship will be able to operate independently in any ocean worldwide," he said. "It will have cutting-edge equipment such as rescue submersibles that can dive 300 meters below the surface and remotely operated underwater vehicles or autonomous underwater vehicles capable of reaching a depth of 6,000 meters." He added that it will also have a landing pad to handle large helicopters.
A ship-mounted crane will be able to salvage capsized vessels or wrecks as heavy as 350 metric tons, Shi said. Moreover, the ship will be equipped with medical facilities, such as operating rooms. "Once the ship is put into service, it will strongly improve our country's maritime search-and-rescue capability and offer better services to any party that uses the South China Sea for peaceful, civilian purposes," he said.
According to the 2017 Report on Navigation in the South China Sea, which was published in June by the China Institute of Navigation and Shanghai Maritime University, the South China Sea is one of the busiest waterways in the world and is crucial to the global shipping industry. Nearly 8,000 large ships passed through the sea every month in 2017.
China has been an active contributor when it comes to search missions and saving lives at sea. Figures from the Nanhai Rescue Bureau show that from June 2003, when the bureau was founded, until January this year, it carried out 4,136 rescue operations in which 1,136 ships and 17,322 people were saved.
A contract to construct the ship itself was signed between the South China Sea Rescue Bureau and a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based China Merchants Group in November 2019 according to a release on the China Merchant Industrial Holdings’ website. The signing ceremony was overseen by the South China Sea Rescue Bureau’s Party Secretary, Zhuang Zeping.
According to the original tender put out by the Ministry of Finance, the design and technical plans for the ship should be done by May 2020, leaving only construction of the ship left. The tender doesn’t specify when construction should be complete.
The SAR ship is simply called the 14,000 Kilowatt Large Cruiser Rescue Ship. If the dimensions specified under the original tender and in the China State Shipbuilding Corporation release are accurate, this would indeed be the largest and most powerful ship operated by China’s search and rescue service. It would be roughly 450 feet long, 88 feet wide, and 36 feet deep. In comparison, the ship’s predecessor and China’s current largest, most powerful SAR vessel, the Dong Hai Jiu 101, is 360 feet by 54 feet, with a depth of 25 feet.
China said it will be the world’s largest search and rescue vessel. It would certainly be significantly larger than any other SAR ships in the region, and larger than any coastguard ships owned by other claimants in the South China Sea.
China’s Ministry of Transport operates many “rescue bureaus” under its SAR agency, the China Rescue Service (CRS). The South China Sea Rescue Bureau is based at Haikou, Hainan province, and has set up regional rescue centers on disputed rocks and islands in the South China Sea: one on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys, and one on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands. Even where there are no formal centers, SAR ships have been permanently based at such artificial islands as Subi Reef.
The Large Cruiser Rescue Ship is set to be the most advanced SAR ship in China’s fleet, capable of hauling shipwrecks out of the deep sea with a 133-ton crane. However, no rescue mission practiced by the CRS in the South China Sea to date has necessitated such a vessel. The original tender elaborates on the rescue ship’s purpose, stating it will be used for “search and rescue of people, ships, and aircraft in distress in the South China Sea, participate in international rescue operations,” and “maintain national rights and interests.”
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