New green, smart vessel set to conduct equipment tests

China's newest multi-role research ship, Weilai, or Future, is scheduled to carry out a number of technological tests to assess deepsea exploration equipment, according to one of the vessel's designers.

Diao Feng, a researcher at China State Shipbuilding Corp, said in Shanghai on Tuesday that as part of a national science and technology program for deep-sea exploration and shipbuilding industry, the Weilai has a very busy schedule over the coming two years.

"Its voyage schedule is already booked solid through the end of 2027, mainly focused on supporting tests and missions of deep-sea exploration apparatus. In the meantime, we will check the performance of environmental protection and intelligent instruments aboard the ship and continue to upgrade the vessel with domestically developed devices," said Diao, who also works for the Taihu Laboratory of Deepsea Technological Science, a joint venture of CSSC and the governments of Jiangsu province and Wuxi city.

According to him, Weilai is a multifunctional platform that can support deep-sea and oceanographic survey missions, test new marine equipment, and demonstrate new technologies that make ships "green and smart".

Gu Wenxian, an engineer at CSSC Chengxi Shipyard who took part in Weilai's construction, said the vessel will allow for the trial run of new ship equipment and new technologies, and the data will help improve the equipment and technologies before they are widely used.

The concept of Weilai was born in 2019, when Wu Yousheng, a top scientist at the China Ship Scientific Research Center and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, proposed to build a dedicated platform to demonstrate green and intelligent technologies and support deep-sea exploration programs.

Its construction began at the CSSC Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province, in October 2023, and was delivered to the Taihu laboratory in July this year.

In September, it performed a 16-day long-distance voyage to examine the actual performance of its scientific instruments.

The Weilai is about 111 meters long and 20 meters tall, and has a full-load displacement of 7,000 metric tons. With four diesel power generators and six propellers, its cruise speed is 22 kilometers per hour and the top speed is about 28 km/h.

With a standing crew of 20, the ship can accommodate another 60 researchers and equipment operators. In a typical survey voyage, it is capable of operating 60 days at sea without needing resupply and can travel more than 18,500 km, according to technical specs published by the China Ship Scientific Research Center, a CSSC subsidiary in Wuxi that designed the vessel.

To facilitate survey operations, designers placed as many as 8,000-odd sensors around the ship to monitor the equipment's conditions and environmental elements and to collect scientific data.

There is a special pool in the middle of the ship that can release submersibles directly into the water.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn