VESSEL REVIEW | Mengxiang – Large deep-drilling ship to support China's geological exploration efforts

China Geological Survey, a sub-agency under the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources, recently took delivery of a new ocean drilling vessel built by China State Shipbuilding Corporation subsidiary Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding.

One of the deepest penetration limits of any drilling vessel in operation

Mengxiang (梦想号; "Dream") has a length of 179.8 metres (589.9 feet), a beam of 32.8 metres (108 feet), a minimum draught of eight metres (26 feet), a displacement of 42,600 tonnes, a range of 15,000 nautical miles, a maximum endurance of 120 days, and accommodation for 180 personnel. The ocean drilling vessel, one of the largest by tonnage to be built in China, was designed to be capable of withstanding extreme typhoon conditions, thus permitting safe drilling operations within a greater offshore safety window.

The vessel's duties will include offshore oil and gas exploration drilling, gas hydrate exploration, and scientific drilling. Drilling can be performed at a maximum depth of 11,000 metres (36,000 feet), thus enabling the vessel to penetrate the Earth’s crust through to the upper mantle, which is rich in mineral and gas deposits. The onboard equipment will facilitate four different drilling modes and three coring methods to permit the vessel to access as much of these resources as possible.

Multiple protected analysis and testing spaces

A hybrid propulsion system meanwhile includes batteries that help ensure energy savings of as much as 15 per cent.

Other key features include a smart ship system that can analyse the data of more than 20,000 different sensors simultaneously, a helicopter deck, a moonpool, and nine laboratories for use in various scientific disciplines such as geology, paleomagnetism, geochemistry, microbiology, and geophysics. The laboratories cover a total area of more than 3,000 square metres (32,000 square feet). The interior spaces are lined with permalloy plates with a gap of one mm in between to permit certain laboratory experiments to be safely conducted without the risk of magnetic field interference.

These attributes make Mengxiang one of the few ocean drilling vessels in the world to combine deep drilling beyond 10,000 metres (33,000 feet), sample extraction, research, analysis and experimentation in the same platform.

Construction of Mengxiang took place between November 2021 and October 2024, when the final phase of the vessel's sea trials was completed. Design work on the vessel was undertaken by the 708 Research Institute subsidiary of the China Shipbuilding Group in compliance with China Classification Society requirements including those that cover unlimited navigation areas.