On November 4, the Shanghai Salvage Bureau and China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. formally signed a contract for the construction of a deep-sea semi-submersible rescue and salvage vessel, marking the addition of another major national asset to China’s deep-sea rescue and salvage capabilities.
Earlier reports indicated that China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) was awarded the contract for the Shanghai Salvage Bureau’s deep-sea semi-submersible rescue and salvage vessel project, with a contract value of approximately 3.98 billion yuan (approximately $596 million).
This deep-sea semi-submersible rescue and salvage vessel has an overall length of approximately 175 meters, a beam of 88 meters, and an operational draft of 24–26 meters. The vessel is powered by an environmentally friendly dual-fuel system using diesel and LNG, with a designed speed of no less than 8 knots, a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles, an endurance of up to 60 days, and a crew capacity of 480.
Equipped with a top-tier DP-3 dynamic positioning system and a 12-point anchoring system, the vessel ensures precise operations even in severe sea conditions. With one of the world’s highest lifting capacities, the vessel is outfitted with two azimuth-rotating cranes, providing a combined lifting capacity of 10,000 tons, enabling it to handle complex tasks such as the salvage of large sunken vessels and the installation of large offshore structures.
As China’s deep-sea shipping and marine development continue to expand into the deep and distant seas, the need for emergency response in deep waters and for the salvage and recovery of large-scale equipment has become increasingly urgent. Once completed, the vessel will become a rescue and salvage engineering ship with world-leading lifting capacity, filling the gap in China’s ultra-large-tonnage deep-sea emergency salvage equipment and significantly enhancing its capabilities in maritime emergency rescue, wreck and sunken-object salvage, and emergency response for large equipment. It is of major strategic value for safeguarding life and property at sea, ensuring the smooth flow of maritime passages, and building a solid maritime security barrier.