Recently, the northern pier of the natural gas hydrate drilling and production vessel (ocean drilling vessel) construction project, undertaken by the Qingdao Institute of marine geology, China Geological Survey, successfully passed its completion inspection. This marks the official commissioning of the northern home port for the “Mengxiang” ocean drilling vessel.
The Mengxiang is China’s first independently designed and built ocean drilling vessel. As a national strategic asset for deep-sea exploration, the supporting project for the Mengxiang drilling vessel—the northern pier—broke ground in 2021. During the construction phase, all participating contractors overcame adverse factors such as land acquisition challenges and typhoon strikes to steadily advance the project.
In October 2023, the project passed the handover inspection for hydraulic engineering works; in June 2024, it completed the completion filing for onshore supporting facilities. Recently, it has passed the special acceptance inspection for project archives, marking the successful conclusion of the entire construction project.
Next, the Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology will continue to enhance the support capabilities of its northern pier to bolster China’s deep-sea access, exploration, and development capacities. Concurrently, it will actively collaborate with Qingdao City to complete the national acceptance inspection for the opening of Aoshan Bay Port, striving to establish China’s first port terminal dedicated to scientific research vessels. This initiative will inject robust momentum into the high-quality development of China’s marine scientific research endeavors.