QINGDAO, Dec. 18 -- A PLA Navy's landing ship smoothly berthed at a ro-ro dock at the Port of Qingdao in Northeast China on December 15, marking the first military and civilian dual-use dock's official operation .
"In the past, warships and large civilian ro-ro ships could not berth at port full-time restricted by the ship model and tide," said Ma Donghui, director of the Qingdao Port's Control Center. He said that the operation of the dual-use dock for both military and civilian applications has solved this problem. Therefore, the military delivery efficiency of waterway transportation in Qingdao has been dramatically improved.
In recent years, it has become normal to deliver the training troops in multiple ways such as railways, waterways, highways, and airways, posing new and higher requirements for the support capabilities of ports. The Port of Qingdao originally had no large ro-ro berths, so that loading and unloading operations were carried out by specific ro-ro ships via vertical wharves under the circumstance of appropriate tides. Hence the operations were quite limited in time with a low efficiency.
In response, the Qingdao Military Representative Office under the Qingdao Port's Control Center proposed a solution to rebuild the ro-ro berths after full investigation and extensive consultation.
According to Zhang Guangming, director of the Qingdao Military Representative Office, the supporting facility construction of the dual-use dock has covered more than 100,000 km2 for assembly, including water supply and power supply facilities and equipment. The available time for loading and unloading has been expanded from over 4 hours to 24 hours daily. Warships and large civilian ro-ro passenger ships can be berthed, loaded and unloaded regardless of models and weather. The comprehensive support efficiency of the port has been significantly improved.
