At around 1:00pm on April 28th, “MOL Earnest” Vessel passed Tiaozhoumen Channel of Ningbo Zhoushan Port and successfully docked at No.1 berth of Meishan Port Area Container Terminal, indicating complete success of first trial voyage to Tiaozhoumen Channel of Ningbo Zhoushan Port, the company said in its press release.

Tiaozhoumen Channel is located between Xiashi Island and Liuheng Island and is the 2nd largest maritime channel in the core port area of Ningbo Zhoushan Port. Built based on the standard for navigation of 15,000-dwt bulk cargo ships, the main channel has total length of around 22.5 nautical miles and navigation water depth of 17-20m.

With the port’s rapid development in transport and production, the traffic pressure of Xiashimen Channel, which is the main channel of the core port area of Ningbo Zhoushan Port has been increased in recent years. In July 2010, Ningbo and Zhoushan city officially launched the construction of Tiaozhoumen Channel and completed construction in the following year. In Oct. 2014, Tiaozhoumen was officially approved and opened for operation and has been officially qualified for trial navigation recently.

Prior to the trial navigation, the NGPC and Dalian Maritime University cooperated to carry out the project of “Research on Countermeasures for Pilotage Safety of Tiaozhoumen Channel”, collected relative data, made systematic research and investigation on the topography and hydrological characteristics and provided theoretical basis for pilot navigation. During pilotage navigation, the business department of group company and other units cooperated actively with each other to ensure successful completion of the pilot work.