China’s new icebreaker Snow Dragon II ready for Antarctica voyage later this year
- Home-made polar research vessel commissioned amid rising tensions with US in the Arctic
- Latest expansion of Beijing’s influence in resource-rich polar regions
China’s first home-made icebreaker has been delivered and is expected to make its maiden voyage to Antarctica later this year, in the latest expansion of Beijing’s influence in the resource-rich polar regions.
The 13,996-tonne Xuelong 2 – or Snow Dragon II – was handed over to the Polar Research Institute of China, part of the natural resources ministry, in Shanghai on Thursday, after sailing through its final 16-day trial last month in the East China Sea.
Qin Weijia, director in charge of polar research with China’s State Oceanic Administration, told a press conference that the vessel was expected to head for Zhongshan Station on the 36th Chinese scientific expedition to Antarctica, where it would carry out scientific research in both physical and chemical oceanography as well as maritime biological diversity.
The 122-metre-long vessel would become “an important platform … for polar oceanic environment investigation and scientific research”, he said.
The Xuelong 2 is China’s second icebreaker, and the first to be built domestically. Its sister ship, the Xuelong, was converted from an ice-breaking cargo vessel built by Ukraine in 1993.