On January 7, 2022, the world's first 140-meter piling ship was delivered in Jiangsu. And the achievements of this domestic industrial giant in terms of the efficiency of underwater operations and environmental protection benefits are also the envy of many Western countries.
So, what are the uses of piling ships, and why is the mainland developing a 140-meter hull?
Piling ships are industrial behemoths
To the envy of countless Western countries, the 140-meter-class piling ship has been successfully landed on the mainland. As the world's first ship, it also shows that the mainland's manufacturing industry has reached a new height.
So what exactly is this industrial behemoth? In short, a piling ship is a vessel that can carry out piling operations on the water. In this process, the ship's steel cables, pulleys, winches and other components will run at the same time, so that the pile body is lifted, and then driven underwater with the help of an important pile hammer mechanism.
In addition, when the piling ship is carrying out engineering work, it also needs to be assisted by other professional vessels. Just as an aircraft carrier is never alone, anchor ships, tugboats, and other work vessels follow the piling ship just like a cruiser.
What is the use of pilboats? In fact, the development of pilboats has been forced by resources. Due to the continuous expansion of human activities on land, the consumption and exploitation of many non-renewable resources have reached alarming levels.
Faced with the gradual shortage of onshore resources, countries have naturally launched activities to explore underwater resources. Whether it is the construction of wind power or oil and gas platforms, or even the construction of piles for coastal terminals, piling ships are actually required to undertake the main engineering tasks.
In fact, in order to carry out underwater piling, the cross-sea bridges of various countries are inseparable from the existence of such piling ships. As early as 2003, the mainland has built pile-driving ships of more than 90 meters.
On May 8, 2020, the mainland built the world's tallest and largest 133-meter piling ship at that time, and now, this record has also been broken with the birth of the 140-meter piling ship "Yihangjin Piling".
The emergence of Yihangjin pile has also attracted many Western buyers. In fact, as early as the 80s of the last century, the global piling ship market was mostly occupied by European and American countries and Japan. Although the technology of the United States is high, most of their hulls are designed to meet domestic needs.
Therefore, in terms of sales, shipbuilding enterprises in European countries account for the lion's share. Since the industrialization process in these countries was earlier than ours, many projects were completed even earlier.
But this also brings a new problem, that is, after the project is landed, due to the limitations of the times, with the development of time, these operations also need to be updated. But if the cost of piling is increased for this, the cost of piling is not what they want to see.
Therefore, now many countries have started the idea of buying advanced foreign husks. And the mainland is a seller that is very much in line with their expectations. In what ways do mainland 140-meter piling vessels attract them?
Yihangjin pile has multiple black technologies
The superiority of Yihangjin pile is not only reflected in the number of piling meters, but also in the performance of specific engineering, the advancement of power and the convenience of pile positioning.
As we all know, piling ships are often named after the length of the pile, and there are many other meter-class piling ships on the market today, from low to high. So why do we design and build a 140-meter piling ship in this case?
In fact, this also shows that the mainland's engineering construction has gradually moved from exploring rivers and coastal areas to deeper and farther oceans. In the past, when operating in these waters, lower-level piling vessels were able to meet the operational requirements.
But once it goes deep into the ocean, its own weight and the degree of piling will actually drop off the chain. However, the existence of 140-meter piling vessels can completely avoid these problems. Because it has a high number of meters, it can drive about 700 tons of steel piles with a diameter of no more than six meters into the water at a depth of nearly 120 meters.
In terms of piling positioning, this industrial giant is also equipped with a variety of advanced systems such as Beidou positioning, which can achieve self-positioning and ensure that the pile can be accurately placed in the position required by the project.
In order to cope with the unpredictable sea conditions at sea, it is even equipped with a full-swing rudder propeller, a hydraulic system and an all-electric propulsion and control mechanism, and the powerful power facilities are enough to allow it to ride the waves.
Up to now, the 140-meter piling ship has not only participated in the construction of the local bridge in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, but also the Ningbo Xiangshan Port Railway Bridge has traces of their activities.
Therefore, in the actual engineering construction, the emergence of the Yihangjin pile increases the depth of the pile body launching, and also speeds up the efficiency of the project, so that the mainland's journey on the sea is invincible.
Improve the efficiency of marine development
The market for Yihangjin pile is broad, not only because the mainland is in the development period of engineering construction, but also because foreign countries are also in the renewal period of infrastructure construction.
The increase in population will inevitably bring about the consumption of resources, and the mainland, as a country with a large population, needs to make early arrangements in this regard. This is also the reason why the mainland has been designing a new version of the domestic piling ship since the beginning of the 21st century.
First of all, in terms of power, the Yihangjin pile uses electric energy. Reducing reliance on diesel power means that piling ships on the mainland are more environmentally friendly.
You must know that although diesel power has the characteristics of stability and reliability in the past, once there is a safety problem, the consequences are actually irreversible. The new pile driving ship with high efficiency, energy saving and safety must be the mainstream in the future.
At the same time, the global energy consumption structure obviously has a trend of transformation to clean energy, and natural gas, as a clean energy, has naturally become the main resource exploited by various countries. Therefore, oil and gas development operations actually account for a considerable part of many offshore projects.
However, due to the defects in the technology of foreign piling ships, the development efficiency will be affected, which will affect all aspects of the country's development, which is why the West will envy our Yihangjin pile so much.
As inventors, we will inevitably enjoy unimaginable benefits, and it can be said that high-tech piling ships will make many offshore oil and gas development projects on the mainland possible. The increase in projects will promote the renewal of piling ship technology, thus forming a virtuous circle.
With more and more technologies enriched by piling ships, in addition to its advantages in environmental protection, high efficiency and wide use, it can even help the mainland to open up the global piling ship consumer market.
Some people may say that the Yihangjin pile is not suitable for export, but if we have the fifth and tenth generation of Yihangjin pile, can we export the old technology and then get back a technology R&D investment from other countries?