

The second Type 901 was launched in July this year by GSI and is currently at fitting out stage.

To date, despite a fairly large fleet of Tanker vessels with one Type 908 of 37 000 tonnes, two Type 905 of 22 000 tonnes and eight Type 903 / Type 903A of 23 000 tonnes, the PLAN is still severely lacking in terms of tankers, able to escort and support the first-line ships in the "Blue water" missions that are becoming increasingly frequent.When, for example, the US Navy has on average one supply vessel for 5 first-line ships, this figure falls to 1 for 15 in the PLAN. The direct consequence is an average of 200 days per year spent at sea for PLAN latest, most modern tankers. This raises a concern in operational flexibility, crew management and hardware fatigue.It is therefore not surprising to see a new orders for offshore supply vessels since the 12th Five-Year Plan (2010-2015) - in a single year 2016, three Type 903A refueling tankers have been inducted in active service.The construction of this new class of 40,000 tons supply vesselis not only proof that the PLAN is taking the rise of their CSGs very seriously. It also shows an intention to operate in an increasingly "global" way.