China's first independently designed and constructed ocean drilling vessel, the 'Dream', has been put into service

On November 17th, China's first ocean drilling vessel, the "Dream", developed and designed by the 78th Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and built by Huangpu Wenchong Assembly, was officially put into service in Guangzhou, marking a major breakthrough in China's key technology and equipment for deep-sea exploration.

The "Dream" project is applied for by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources is responsible for organizing and implementing it. The ship completed its preliminary design in May 2020, started construction in November 2021, and completed comprehensive sea trials in October 2024.
The "Dream" ship has a captain of 179.8 meters, a width of 32.8 meters, a displacement of 42600 tons, a range of 15000 nautical miles, a self-sustaining capacity of 120 days, a crew of 180 people, and an unlimited navigation area in global waters. It can operate normally under level 6 sea conditions and survive safely under level 16 super typhoons, meeting the requirements for bridge passage and dock docking in major global waters. The ship adopts a "modular" design concept, overcomes multiple world-class technical challenges, and achieves "multifunctionality" with a "small tonnage". It is the first international innovation to integrate multiple functions such as ocean scientific drilling, deep-sea oil and gas exploration, and natural gas hydrate exploration and trial production. After two rounds of sea trials, the main performance indicators of the "Dream" vessel have been verified to be superior to the design requirements, establishing China's independent technology system for the design and construction of ultra deep water drilling equipment.

The "Dream" drilling and production system is internationally leading, and has jointly developed the world's first hydraulic lifting drilling rig that combines oil and gas exploration and core drilling functions. It has four drilling modes and three coring methods, which can meet different operational needs such as ocean drilling and deep-sea resource exploration. The comprehensive drilling efficiency and hard rock drilling ability have been greatly improved, and the maximum drilling depth can reach 11000 meters. It is expected to help scientists around the world achieve their scientific dream of "penetrating the crust and entering the deep earth".

The "Dream" scientific research laboratory has internationally leading functions and information technology level, and can be regarded as a "national laboratory" for maritime mobility. The ship is equipped with nine functional laboratories, including basic geology, paleomagnetism, inorganic geochemistry, organic geochemistry, microbiology, marine science, natural gas hydrates, geophysics, drilling technology, etc. The total area exceeds 3000 square meters and is equipped with the world's first shipborne core automatic transmission and storage system, which can meet the research needs of all disciplines in the marine field. Build a 'ship intelligent brain' that can real-time aggregate and analyze data from over 20000 monitoring points, achieving intelligent monitoring of operations, intelligent collaboration in experiments, intelligent health protection, and intelligent integration of ship and shore.

The "Dream" ocean drilling vessel has undergone ten years of intelligent research and development. The research and development team of the 78th Institute has overcome difficulties such as small design tonnage, multiple operational functions, high technical difficulty, and short research and development cycle, and has broken through more than 50 core key technologies in ten categories. It has successfully solved the problem of integrating multiple functions on board, such as ocean scientific drilling, deep-sea oil and gas exploration, and natural gas hydrate exploration and trial production. It has completed innovative ship design schemes, new connected double moon pools, DP-3 level energy storage closed-loop power grids, and other international pioneering designs. It has developed a fully independent intellectual property rights ocean drilling vessel, achieving significant improvement in comprehensive performance and effective control of operating costs. The successful development of the "Dream" ocean drilling vessel has achieved a major breakthrough in China's ultra deepwater drilling equipment from "relying on basic foreign designs" to "completely independent and autonomous designs".

The inclusion of the "Dream" vessel will provide significant platform support for China's deep-sea resource exploration, key technology and equipment research and development, as well as for global scientists to conduct ocean scientific drilling research. It is of great significance for accelerating the construction of a maritime and technological power, and promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

In addition, one ocean drilling core storage facility with the world's largest storage capacity, two high standard deepwater scientific research docks, and one multi-functional support ship have been built to provide strong support for the operation of the "Dream".