Asia's biggest dredging vessel goes into service

The biggest and most advanced dredging vessel in Asia set sail from east China's Lianyungang Port on Tuesday for its first mission.

Asia's largest and most advanced dredging vessel Tian Kun Hao berths at a port for its first sea trial in Qidong city, east China's Jiangsu province, 8 June 2018. [File Photo: IC]

According to the local customs authority, the Tiankun can dig as deep as 35 meters under the sea floor and is capable of dredging 6,000 cubic meters of sand per hour. The 140-meter-long and 29-meter-wide colossus can operate autonomously in environments ranging from ports, coastal waters, and in deep-sea regions.

The dredger was put through a mud-dredging trial off the coast of the city of Qidong in Jiangsu Province last October, before completing a bedrock-digging test near the coastal city of Dalian.

It was built by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries and designed by a consortium of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard, and the China Merchants Industry.