First Chinese-built icebreaker to make maiden voyage this year

Chinese icebreaker "Xuelong 2" or "Snow Dragon 2" has been delivered to the China Polar Research Institute and will make its maiden voyage with the current "Xuelong" within the year.

China's first domestically-built polar research vessel and icebreaker "Xuelong 2" prepares to take water at Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, September 10, 2018. [Photo: IC]

The first domestically built polar research vessel is able to cut through ice 1.5-meters thick at a speed of up to 3 knots and break polar ice with both its bow and stern, said captain Zhao Yanping.

The icebreaker completed a 15-day trial sailing in East China Sea a month ago.

The construction of Xuelong 2 started in 2016. Basic design was completed by foreign companies, but Chinese research centers and ship companies made the detailed design, construction design and offered the ship-building technology.

Unlike its predecessor, the "Xuelong 2" is outfitted with wireless internet, allowing the crew to talk directly with the outside world from the comfort of inside the vessel, rather than having to venture on to the deck to gain communication services.