Described as the world’s first 100,000-ton “smart-aquaculture” vessel, the Guoxin 1 left Qingdao harbor in mid-January 2022 for sea trials.
Guoxin Development Group first announced the project in November 2019 and said in November 2020 it would have its prototype farming vessel in operation by March 2022.
Experiments on a smaller test vessel, the Guoxin 101, had shown survival rates of 95 percent, the state-owned group said in a press release. With a length of 250 meters and a width of 50 meters, the vessel, built by the China State Shipbuilding Corp, has been promoted by Guoxin (also known as Qingdao Conson Development Group) as a turning point in China’s fisheries development. Drawing 25 meters, the Guoxin 101 accommodates 15 aquaculture “cabins,” or tanks, in which the company plans to cultivate yellow croaker and other species “of high economic value,” according to a company statement. The 100,000-ton vessel is fitted with feeding systems designed to exchange water constantly as the vessel moves around the Yellow Sea.
Guoxin, which acquired the salmon-farming assets of Oriental Ocean in February 2020 and took over Chinese feed and tilapia player Baiyang in February 2020, has set a goal of 200,000 metric tons of annual salmon and yellow croaker production per year on 50 identical vessels to Guoxin 1.
In May 2020, Guoxin opened a new deep-water aquaculture research center in Qingdao staffed by the China Fisheries Academy. And also last year, Guoxin Group Chairman Wang Jianhui announced a CNY 10 million (USD 1.5 million, EUR 1.3 million) prize fund for research into deep-water and smart aquaculture. Another Guoxin-funded academy in the city, the Marine Fish Nutrition and Feed Joint Research Center, was previously established in partnership with the Ocean University of China.
Photo courtesy of Guoxin Development Group
