Article Posted on : - Aug 14, 2012

BEIJING (BNS): The Chinese military has launched the 'Bohai emerald bead' passenger and roll-on/roll-off ship at the Yantai Port of east China's Shandong Province.

The 36,000-tonne vessel, the largest and the longest in China to date, started its maiden voyage on 8 August, a PLA Daily report said.

According to the report, the 178-meter-long and 28-meter-wide ship can carry 2,000-plus persons and be loaded with over 300 vehicles of various sizes one time.

The Bohai is the first ship of its kind, and three additional passenger and roll-on/roll-off ships with the same water displacement are now under construction, it added.

"This is a new leap-forward in enhancing PLA's strategic projection capability by civilian ships," Zhang Wei, director of the Military Transportation Department under the PLA General Logistics Department, was quoted as saying.