From "non-staff personnel" to the young people behind breaking the foreign monopoly on the development of heavy ship equipment
2024-08-27
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On the banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, there is a unit that undertakes the design of national heavy equipment and high-end ships - the 708th Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "708th Institute"). my country's first professional polar research icebreaker "Xuelong 2", the world's first 23,000-box LNG (liquefied natural gas) powered container ship, and the "island-building artifact" Tiankun self-propelled suction dredger... These national heavy equipment were all designed by the institute.
Recently, China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporters visited China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation to explore the stories of young researchers behind the shipbuilding industry. In this 74-year-old research and development institution, known as the "cradle of Chinese ship design," generations of young people have shouldered the responsibility of breaking the foreign monopoly and building a complete scientific and technological innovation system.
The “right to speak” at the “end of the world”
On June 24 this year, the new generation of icebreaker survey ship "Ji Di" designed and built by my country was delivered in Guangzhou. This is the third professional polar research ship delivered by my country after the two polar icebreakers "Xue Long" and "Xue Long 2". These three major polar research vessels were all designed by the 708 Institute.
"Polar expeditions start with ships. Without ships, people can't reach the polar regions, build scientific research stations, or even enter the meeting room of the International Polar Conference." Wu Gang, a national ship design master and chief expert of the 708th Institute, said that the cover of various global navigation textbooks for ship design majors will clearly indicate "except the polar regions." Whether a country has polar scientific research equipment and whether it can go to the polar regions for scientific research is an important reflection of its scientific research strength.
Over the years, Wu Gang and his team of young polar equipment designers have established a research and development model of "introduction-digestion and absorption-re-innovation", instead of using the old-fashioned research and development design process, and focusing on breaking through key "bottleneck" technologies.
The first ship, Xuelong, imported from Ukraine and redesigned by the 708th Institute, is a light icebreaker with a continuous icebreaking capacity of less than 1 meter. The second ship, Xuelong 2, was independently designed by the 708th Institute and has a continuous icebreaking capacity of about 1.5 meters. It took more than 20 years for Chinese researchers to improve the icebreaking capacity by 0.5 meters.
Wu Gang revealed that a higher-level heavy-duty icebreaker is currently under development. It belongs to the "top of the pyramid" of polar icebreakers and has a continuous icebreaking capability of more than two meters. "It involves all aspects such as power, propulsion, low-temperature and high-strength steel, outer plate coating, low-temperature and high-precision navigation, etc. Every breakthrough requires the joint efforts of all teams."
In order to obtain accurate test data and develop first-class polar scientific research equipment, researchers from the 708th Institute participated in many of my country's Arctic and Antarctic scientific expeditions to learn about the operation of polar scientific research vessels and their actual needs. "This is a practice passed down from the generation of Academician Zhang Bingyan, an expert in my country's polar scientific research. Only by understanding the actual needs of users can we truly develop and design practical and reliable icebreaker scientific research vessels," said Wu Gang.
Ultra-large container ships break the monopoly of Japan and South Korea
In addition to special ships such as icebreakers, Chinese shipbuilders have also competed in the ultra-large container ships, which have become a must-have in the field of civilian ships in recent years. In the past two years, as shipowners have significantly increased freight rates, orders for container ships have also been climbing.
Before 2010, the 708th Institute received no orders for the design of ultra-large container ships. After 2010, the container ship R&D team of the 708th Institute began to break the foreign monopoly. Currently, 20% of the world's ultra-large container ship design orders have been won by the institute.
Chu Shaowei, a young expert in container ship design at the 708th Institute, still remembers the embarrassing scene he encountered at the bidding meeting of the world's top shipowner company. In 2007, a group of young people from the 708th Institute had a design plan, but because they had no performance and no qualifications to prepare bid documents, they could only enter the bidding meeting venue as "non-staff personnel" to "learn". At that time, every time they went to bid, they received "polite but helpless" rejection.
"Our young people are very hardworking. They fail again and again, but they muster up the courage to start all over again and again." Chu Shaowei said that everyone drew thousands of drawings at that time, until the Panama Canal was widened in 2008, which gave the young people the opportunity.
The design team expanded the ship's width from 42.8 meters to 48.2 meters, and innovatively divided the living quarters and chimney into "two islands". This approach makes the design indicators of the 708 Institute far higher than similar ships. This 5.4-meter expansion may seem simple, but in fact it affects the entire structure of the ship, including the parameters of the circuit, cargo capacity, power, etc., which must be changed accordingly.
Previously, no design company dared to make such a major change. Two years later, in 2010, with this bold design, the 708th Institute achieved a breakthrough from 0 to 1 in the design of my country's ultra-large container ships.
Chu Shaowei told reporters that to this day, the ultra-large container ship research and development team, which is constantly replenished with fresh blood, is still challenging the world's most cutting-edge designs. In 2015, they first keenly noticed that many ports began to issue "no-stop orders" for high-emission ultra-large ships, and decisively started the verification and research of LNG replacing traditional diesel; and recently launched the research and development and verification of LNG mobile filling stations.
In addition to LNG, they have also started research on hydrogen energy storage ships. "Times are changing, and user needs are also changing. We must have a more forward-looking vision and plan ahead for the research and reserve of the next generation of ships," said Chu Shaowei.
“Research what the country lacks”
The reporter noted that since the beginning of this year, China Shipbuilding Group has accelerated the cultivation and development of new quality productivity and handed in a brilliant "report card". The group has delivered a number of major national heavy equipment, including the new generation icebreaker survey ship "Polar", several fifth-generation 174,000 cubic meter LNG carriers, and 93,000 cubic meter very large liquefied gas carriers (VLGC); signed an order for 18 of the world's largest 271,000 cubic meter LNG ships, setting a record for the highest single new ship order amount; the "Aida·Modu" manufactured by the group has successfully operated more than 50 voyages since its maiden voyage on January 1, 2024, serving more than 220,000 domestic and foreign guests...
In the eyes of the young people of the 708 Institute, “research whatever the country needs” is the driving force for their continuous inheritance and innovation.
Currently, 11% of my country's electricity comes from wind power, and 11% of wind power comes from offshore. Data from the Global Wind Energy Council shows that in 2020, global investment in offshore wind power exceeded investment in offshore oil and gas for the first time. Among them, the Asia-Pacific region, led by China, has the fastest growth rate.
"In the past, wind turbines developed faster than wind power installation equipment. Now the fourth-generation platform has reached the 'ceiling' level. Our construction equipment has finally reached the forefront of the world." Cheng Weijie, a young researcher at the 708 Institute, followed Fei Long, a national ship design master and chief expert of the 708 Institute, to develop offshore wind power installation platforms.
In September 2022, the 2,000-ton self-elevating and self-propelled integrated offshore wind power installation platform "Baihetan", with Cheng Weijie as the chief designer, was delivered. It is my country's first self-propelled and self-elevating wind power installation platform independently developed and designed with completely independent intellectual property rights. It can meet the installation requirements of deep-sea wind farms and large-megawatt offshore wind turbines. Another 5,000-ton offshore self-propelled crane ship "Tiejianqi 01" will also be delivered before the end of 2024.
In addition, the team led by Fei Long also designed all the offshore crane ships, cable laying ships, and operation and maintenance ships. By the end of 2024, the new generation of offshore wind power construction equipment designed and delivered by the 708th Institute will be able to provide the installation capacity of about 1,000 offshore wind turbines for my country's offshore wind power installation market each year.
"These equipments cannot be purchased. They can only be inherited and innovated by generations of young ship workers. 'National ships built in China' is our ultimate way out," said Fei Long.
China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter Wang Yejie Source: China Youth Daily
(Source: China Youth Daily)
