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November 9, 2010
Antarctic Icebreaker Xue Long Berths at YICT
Antarctic Icebreaker Xue Long Berths at YICT
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On Monday 8th November, at 6:00 pm, Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT) held a ceremony to honour the arrival of Antarctic scientific expedition team onboard Xue Long, an icebreaker vessel, otherwise referred to as Snow Dragon. The celebration took place at Berth 3, located in the West Port of Yantian Port. Xue Long will embark on its 27th Antarctic expedition from YICT. This trip will mark the first time that the vessel has commenced an expedition outside of its home port in Shanghai.
Xue Long is 167 metres long and 22.6 metres wide, with a load draught of 9 metres and dead weight of 10,250 tonnes. It is China's only icebreaker that is capable of functioning throughout scientific expeditions to the world's Polar Regions. Its first Antarctic expedition took place in October 1994 and the vessel has since completed 26 Antarctic scientific expeditions, in addition to three Arctic expeditions, which have included the provision of supplies to Chinese base camps.
To celebrate Shenzhen Special Economic Zone's 30th anniversary, the Shenzhen Municipal Government invited the expedition team and their vessel to the Port. After two packed days of public visits, and exhibitions on polar exploration, the vessel is due to set sail for the South Pole on 11th November.
Yuan Baocheng, Vice-Mayor of Shenzhen, and a delegation of government officials, met the expedition team members at their vessel's gangway. Qu Tanzhou, Director General of the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration (CAA), Qin Weijia, CAA's Deputy Director, Yuan Shaohong, Party Committee Secretary of the Polar Research Institute of China, He Yongzhi, Director General of Shenzhen Oceanic Administration, and Hai Chi Yuet, Managing Director of YICT, were present at the ceremony.