New ocean research ship delivered to China's Tongji University

China's state-owned Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding handed over a new ocean research vessel to Tongji University in a ceremony on Sunday, July 13.

The 2,000-ton vessel, also named Tongji, was designed by the China Ship Development and Design Centre, Huangpu Wenchong's sister company under China State Shipbuilding Corporation.

The vessel was built to be used in a number of scientific fields such as marine geology, chemistry, biology, and archaeological research.

Tongji has a length of 81.5 metres, a beam of 15 metres, and space for 45 crewmembers and other personnel. The vessel's electric propulsion system, which is suitable for unlimited navigation except in ice areas, can deliver a maximum speed of 16 knots and a range of 8,000 nautical miles.

The vessel also has space for containerised laboratories and facilities for storage, deployment and recovery of remotely operated vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles.

Tongji was built to comply with China Classification Society's "I-ship" intelligent ship requirements including those for shore-based remote control, open water autonomous navigation, intelligent energy efficiency management and intelligent integration platform.