The LNG-powered trailing suction hopper dredger Xinhaixun sets sail from Qidong, a county-level city of Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: qdrmt0513]

The 15,000 cubic meter LNG-powered trailing suction hopper dredger Xinhaixun was launched at the Qidong Marine Engineering Shipbuilding Industrial Park on Dec 24.

It is the world's largest and China's first LNG-powered trailing suction hopper dredger and marks China's entry into the ultra-large-scale field of LNG-powered dredgers. It is also the 69th world-first vessel to sail from the Yangtze River estuary in the 10 years of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Construction on the Xinhaixun started in December 2022. It boasts LNG power technology that fills the gap in China's clean energy power in dredging vessels. It is also the first such dredger in China to have vibration and noise control requirements and an unmanned dredging function.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past 10 years, 69 world-first and first-made products emerged from the Qidong Marine Engineering Shipbuilding Industrial Park. The industrial park's products in various fields, such as marine engineering, special vessels, energy equipment, and wind power have been shipped to Mexico, Singapore, Mauritania, Senegal and other countries.                             

Qidong has become strong in high-tech vessels and marine engineering equipment. From January to November, the Qidong Marine Engineering Shipbuilding Industrial Park achieved 23.23 billion yuan ($3.25 billion) in industrial taxable sales, up 25.1 percent year-on-year.