Advanced rescue ship ready for tasks in South China Sea

China commissioned an advanced rescue ship on Tuesday, deploying it to the South China Sea for emergency response tasks.

The Nanhai Jiu 103 was delivered to the Nanhai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport in October and formal operations started on Tuesday.

The vessel features air, surface and underwater rescue capabilities, a high technological level and a very long operational range, according to the ministry.

Designed by the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute of the State-owned conglomerate China State Shipbuilding Corp, the vessel is 136.9 meters long, 26.7 meters wide, and weighs 19,000 metric tons when fully loaded.

It is capable of sailing nearly 30,000 kilometers or operating 90 days on a single operation without needing to dock at port or receive supplies, the ministry said in a news release, adding that it can carry a large helicopter and underwater robots for search and rescue.

The vessel is able to conduct search, rescue and salvage tasks for ships, aircraft and submarines in very tough conditions, as it can withstand typhoons as strong as 12 on the Beaufort scale, according to the Shanghai institute.

In addition to rescue and salvage operations, the ship can also be used to tow disabled ships, monitor oil spills, perform deep-water scanning and surveys, extinguish fires or ferry supplies to vessels in emergencies, designers said.

After the new vessel's commissioning, the Ministry of Transport has 25 rescue ships, four helicopters and a number of first-response professionals, ensuring a 24-hour search-and-rescue capability, it noted.

Shi Gongqian, the ship's project manager at the Shanghai institute, said it is no exaggeration to call Nanhai Jiu 103 the world's most advanced and most capable rescue ship.

"The ship can operate independently in any ocean worldwide. It is good at all work involved in maritime emergency response. It has cutting-edge equipment such as rescue submersibles that can dive 300 meters below the surface and remotely operated underwater vehicles or autonomous underwater vehicles capable of reaching a depth of 6,000 meters.

"The ship-mounted crane is able to salvage capsized vessels or wrecks as heavy as 350 metric tons. Moreover, the ship is equipped with medical facilities, such as operating rooms," Shi said.

The craft has been designed to carry 30 crew members and up to 90 search-and-rescue personnel, and it is capable of accommodating as many as 200 people rescued from disasters.