China’s Fan Zhou 8, a self-propelled deck vessel with a record-breaking 58,000-tonne capacity, has completed its successful five-day sea trials, becoming the largest vessel of its type in the world. The vessel left the Taizhou Zhonghang Shipbuilding facility in Zhejiang province on Tuesday and underwent various professional sailing tests in the waters east of Shanghai, returning to dock on Sunday, as reported by state broadcaster CCTV.
With impressive seaworthiness, the Fan Zhou 8 meets Polar Code standards and can navigate in areas with small drifting ice floes. The vessel measures 256 meters in length and 51 meters in width (840 feet by 167 feet) and has a range of 16,000 nautical miles (29,600 kilometers), with a top speed of over 15 knots (28 km/h). This allows it to cover routes like Shanghai to New York, a distance of about 14,000 nautical miles.
The vessel’s deck spans most of its hull, enabling it to transport a variety of large cargo, including offshore oilfield, wind, and nuclear power equipment, as well as large steel structures or sections. Chinese bloggers have compared its size to the Fujian aircraft carrier, the country’s first domestically developed carrier, which is about 300 meters long and 70 meters wide.
