May 25, 2022

 

China marks delivery of new class of aquaculture vessel

 

China celebrated on May 20 the delivery of the first of a new class of vessels which is expected to revolutionise farm-raised fish with new methods of aquaculture.

 

Guoxin 1, is a 100,000dwt vessel that China boasts will yield over 3,700 tonnes of fish annually. Qingdao Guoxin Development Group, which will be operating the vessel, plans to build four ships after having proven some of its concepts on a smaller vessel and ultimately plans for a fleet of 50 floating, mobile fish farms.

 

Construction on Guoxin 1 started at CSSC's Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding in December 2020. The vessel measures 816 feet in length with 15 tanks twice the size of normal pools. It has nearly 900,000 square feet or over 19 acres of capacity in the tanks. Among the challenges in the design and construction of the vessel were controlling both sound levels aboard and vibration.

 

Guoxin 1 was launched in January 2022 and, from April 30 to May 5, completed its sea trials. CSSC reported that it has applied for more than 40 patents, including one international patent and obtained more than 10 authorisations for design elements.

 

In 2019, CSSC proposed the concept and a demonstration project for deep-sea aquaculture.

 

The core of the vessel's system is a constant exchange of water between the tanks and the sea that makes the water environment on the ship enclosed and controllable. The controlled environment permits the vessel to isolate the fish from harmful natural disasters ranging from "red tide" and typhoons as well as pollution.

 

Operations aboard the ship are monitored with underwater cameras, sensors and an auto-feeding system as well as connectivity to CSSC's onshore offices to monitor the fish.

 

The company expected that it will be able to increase the density of the breeding operation three to five times higher than traditional cages and will be able to shorten the aquaculture cycles by up to a quarter.

 

CSSC also predicted that the survival rate for fish will be improved and that the weight gain rate will be increased. The focus will be on "high-quality cultured fish" species such as yellow croaker, Atlantic salmon and grouper. There was no information on how many people will be required to operate the ship or where it will operate.

 

Two identical ships, Guoxin 2 and Guoxin 3, are reportedly already under construction and due for delivery by March 2024. The fourth ship will be an "improved version" for which CSSC plans to start construction in late 2023.

 

- The Maritime Executive