Over the years people observing the ship movements at the port of Durban have become used to seeing the impressive Chinese tracking ships of the Yuan Wang class arriving in port for a visit lasting several days.
On Sunday 18 August, one of these highly sophisticated ships, Yuan Wang 7 (IMO 9804485), sailed serenely into port and has taken up berths A/B opposite the Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal, for a stay expected to last until Thursday 22 August.
Whenever these ships appear from over the blue horizon, it usually corresponds with an important space launch from the Chinese mainland, for this is the reason and main purpose of the handsome-looking vessels. Each of the seven Yuan Wang class ships have had different designs although to the casual observer some may appear the same. Having similar names and identified only by a number, doesn’t help.
The first of these ships appeared as far back as 1977 and was designed to serve as a tracking support vessel for China’s then fledgling communication satellite programme and its development of ballistic missiles. Or was it the other way around. More recently as the Chinese ventured into manned missions into space and rocketry to the moon including a ‘first’ with a successful landing on its far side, the fleet of tracking ships have been kept busy.
As is normal with these things, little is announced and even less is known of current missions, except it may be assumed that a launch or possibly a re-entry is imminent. If past practice can be used for a guide then Yuan Wang 7, when she departs Durban, will round the Cape and take up station in the South Atlantic, awaiting the time when her tracking devices will be called into action.
The ship has Cape Town down as her next port of call following Durban, but that’s on 21 September 2024. This is another indicator that Yuan Wang 7 will be taking up station in the South Atlantic, probably somewhere not too far off the African coast.
The ships of this special fleet belong to the China Maritime Satellite Telemetry and Control Department based in Jiangyin, which is in Jiangsu province. Several of the early types, specifically numbers 1 and 2, have been withdrawn and retired. The latest to have been built is now berthed in Durban – Yuan Wang 7 which was built in 2016 to assist with tracking during the launches of subsequent crewed space missions.
Yuan Wang 7 has a length of 220 metres, a width of 27m and displaces approximately 25,000 tons. Along her deck are three large and highly visible 10-12 metre diameter dishes. What’s inside the ship is accommodation for several hundred scientists, technicians and crew and no doubt much sophisticated equipment. It’s possible that quite a few of the specialists on board will be joining the ship in Durban, having flown in.
Written by Terry Hutson and republished with permission from Africa Ports & Ships. The original article can be found here.
