After nearly four days at sea Tiankun, the first self-designed cutter suction dredger in Asia, which was independently designed and built by China, successfully completed its first sea trial.

Navigation performance verified

A review of operating conditions shows that the sea trial tested and verified the reliability and stability of the ship's power system. Tests of speed, stopping, turning and anchoring have been conducted. In addition to performing a series of emergency operations such as full swing and drowning rescue during navigation, corrections were also made to navigation aids such as radar and gyro and magnetic compasses.

According to Zhang Qian, captain of "Tiankun", the building of the entire ship took two and a half years. After the launch of the ship seven months ago, the shipbuilding supervision group encountered hundreds of problems. Some minor ones can be solved on site, but major problems require analysis and judgment, and it often take months for researchers to come up with solutions.

Having completed the sea trial Tiankun will now return to its dock at the shipyard. The next step will be to carry out rectification according to the test report and continue commissioning the dredging equipment. It is expected that Tiankun can be officially delivered to the Tianjin Dredging Company in August.

Accumulated technologies combine innovations

Tiankun integrates the scientific and technological creations and innovations of the dredging industry in China.

Tianlan is 140 meters long, 27.8 meters wide, and has a maximum digging depth of 35 meters. Its total installed power is 25,843 kilowatts, the designed dredging capacity is 6000 cubic meters per hour and its reamer has a rated power of 6,600 kilowatts. The vessel has a strong dredging capacity so that weathered rocks, common rocks, silts, clays and other soils can all be dredged. And its maximum row spacing is 15 kilometers.

A navigation platform and a dredging station were installed on the front and rear sides of the Tiankun control room. This set of equipment is the most advanced intelligent control system for cutter suction dredgers in China, and can display three-dimensional soil when dredging, calculate tidal levels, manage energy efficiency, and conduct intelligent automatic dredging.

The upper living area of the hull and the main deck are isolated by multiple airbags. This is the first pneumatic damping device installed on Tiankun.