A Chinese self-propelled deck vessel with an unprecedented carrying capacity of 58,000 tonnes – making it the largest of its kind in the world – has been declared seaworthy after completing five days of trials on Sunday.
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The flat-top cargo ship Fan Zhou 8 left the Taizhou Zhonghang Shipbuilding facility in Zhejiang province on Tuesday and returned to dock after “various professional sailing tests” in the waters east of Shanghai, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“The ship has strong seaworthiness, meets the requirements of the Polar Code, and can navigate in small drifting ice floes,” the report added.
The vessel is 256 metres long and 51 metres wide (840ft by 167ft) and has a range of 16,000 nautical miles (29,600km), with a maximum speed of over 15 knots (about 28km/h). The Shanghai to New York sea route is about 14,000 nautical miles, according to Ports.com.
The ship’s deck occupies most of the hull and is capable of transporting a wide range of cargo, including offshore oilfield, wind and nuclear power equipment, as well as large vessel steel structures or sections, CCTV said.
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Chinese bloggers have compared the size of the deck to the Fujian, the country’s first domestically developed aircraft carrier, which is estimated to be about 300 metres long and 70 metres wide.
