Page 43: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2017)

The “Magic Island Maker”

Photo: CCCC Tiamjim Dredging Co., Ltd.

Tian Kun Hao: A 17,000 ton Chinese Dredger

Classi? cation: DnV +1A1 HSLC R1 Car Ferry “B” EO hina unveiled a massive dredger which has sporting a maximum digging depth of 35 meters and total power

Gross Tonnage: 10842 been called “a magic island-maker” by its of 25,843 kW. It is designed to dig 6,000 cu. m. per hour of

Length: 109.4 m designer and is considered the most power- sand/silt with its 6,600-kW cutter. According to the geological

Beam: 30.5 m ful vessel of its type in Asia, according to the conditions, it can be con? gured with general cutter, clay cut-

Draft: 4.05 m shipbuilder. The boat is reportedly a larger ver- ter, rock cutter and heavy cutter and can dig rocks with unilat-

Deadweight: 1,000 metric tons sion of the ship China used to clean sweep the eral compression resistance strength within 50 MPa. The cutter C

Passengers: 1,000 islets and reefs in the South China sea from corals, mud and suction dredger is a key scienti? c research project approved by

Cars: 411 cars in car-only mode dredged sand for transforming them into arti? cial islands. Dur- MIIT and jointly developed by Tianjin Dredger, together with ing the past ? ve years, China has used similar vessels to cre- MARIC, SJTU, Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard Co., Ltd., and

Engines: 4 x MAN Diesel & Turbo 20V 28/33D ate a string of strategic, and politically controversial, islands to China Merchants Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., a project with a cu-

Waterjets: 4 x Wartsila Lips LJX 1500SR support its sea claims. Tian Kun Hao is a heavy self-propelled mulative ? ve years invested on R&D. The dredger is expected

Gearboxes: 4 x ZF NR2H 60000 cutter suction dredger with a 6,600 kW cutter, invested in and to enter operation in June 2018. Tian Kun Hao is equipped with

Loaded Speed on SeaTrials: 43 knots jointly designed by CCCC Tianjin Dredging Co., Ltd. (Tianjin all-electric drive unit and dual positioning systems, able to sail

Service Speed: 40 knots

Dredging) and built by ZPMC. It measures 140 x 27.8 meters, in unrestricted navigation areas around the world.

Lightship Speed: 47 knots www.marinelink.com 43

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