On the morning of January 16, 2024, at 8:30 AM, EVERGREEN MARITIME successfully launched a 3,000-ton deep-sea aquaculture net cage in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, using airbag ship launching technology. The fishing net cage is named “Marine Granary Number One” and is a fully submersible deep-sea salmon farming cluster net cage. The cage is 89 meters long, 45 meters wide, and 32 meters high, with a launching weight of 3,000 tons. It belongs to a fully submersible rigid cage structure, with a maximum aquaculture water volume of 40,000 cubic meters, expected to produce over 1,300 tons of salmon annually.
The construction of the aquaculture net cage was completed by Shandong Port Equipment Group Co., Ltd., and it was built on a cement platform at zero degrees. The launch slope connecting the construction platform is a concrete structure divided into two sections: the above-water slope has a gradient of 1/70, and the underwater slope has a gradient of 1/20. The launching project of “Marine Granary Number One” used a total of 42 Evergreen marine airbags and two 50-ton winches. After installing the winches to secure the aquaculture net cage to the construction platform, airbags were inserted between the support blocks at the bottom of the cage. When the airbags were inflated to 0.15 MPa, the cage lifted off the pedestals, and the pedestals were removed. Controlled by the winches, the aquaculture net cage moved 120 meters forward to the designated launching position. At high tide, the winches released the steel wire rope, allowing the net cage to smoothly enter the water and float. Subsequently, a tugboat towed the net cage to a location 10 nautical miles offshore for deployment.
“Marine Granary Number One” has its own lifting control capability, allowing it to be towed and moved in nearshore areas, facilitating maintenance in designated sea areas. The net cage is equipped with a liquid level telemetry system and an environmental monitoring system, featuring high and low liquid level alarms, feed dispensing, energy supply, and monitoring of hydrological parameters such as sea temperature and dissolved oxygen. This enables unmanned deep-sea aquaculture. After formal production and operation, it can effectively address the development pain points of low wind and wave resistance, high manual feeding costs, and low farming efficiency of traditional offshore aquaculture equipment, achieving the intensification and intelligence of deep-sea fisheries and aquaculture production.
With the continuous development of ocean ranching-related technologies and policy guidance, modern ocean ranches are gradually moving towards.
“deep-sea.” The size and weight of deep-sea aquaculture net cages built in China are increasing. Using airbag launching technology can shorten the site’s infrastructure construction period and save a considerable amount of funds. EVERGREEN MARITIME, as a professional marine airbag manufacturer and engineering company, is proud to contribute to the economic development of the country in various fields.
