China's shipbuilders sailing on brighter journey

China's first ultradeep-water drilling ship starts sea trial

China's first ultradeep-water research drilling vessel Meng Xiang started its trial voyage on Dec 18, marking a crucial step in the nation's construction of deep-sea exploration capabilities and the research and development of marine technology.

The vessel is designed by China State Shipbuilding Corp. It is being built by Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of CSSC.

The 33,000-metric-ton vessel is 179.8 meters long and 32.8 meters wide, with a range of 15,000 nautical miles (27,780 kilometers), and is capable of withstanding a super typhoon that has a wind speed of 52 meters per second. It can drill up to 11,000 meters below sea level.