Su Hai 1 First Harvest: World's Largest Aquaculture Vessel Reaches Milestone
The first harvest from "Su Hai 1" — the world's first 100,000-ton closed-containment aquaculture vessel — was completed on June 23 in the waters off Weihai, Shandong Province.
The vessel was delivered in Guangzhou on June 26, 2025, and officially entered service on December 23, 2025, at the Ganyu Port Area in Lianyungang, where the first batch of 400,000 salmon smolts were subsequently loaded. The vessel is registered in the Port of Lianyungang and is classed by China Classification Society (CCS). Measuring 249.8 meters in length, it features 15 closed-containment tanks with a total water volume of 83,000 cubic meters and a designed annual production capacity of 6,000 to 8,000 tons.
What makes this vessel different?
Traditional inshore cage farming faces two core challenges: poor water exchange leading to localized eutrophication, and high summer surface temperatures that make it impossible for cold-water species like salmon to survive. "Su Hai 1" addresses both issues with closed tanks equipped with a recirculating water treatment system. Solid waste is separated, collected, and treated onshore, with zero discharge into the sea. The vessel can also relocate according to water temperature — moving to the Yellow Sea cold-water mass in summer and returning to southern waters in winter — maintaining an optimal year-round growing temperature of 12–16°C.
A milestone for offshore aquaculture
With an annual output of 6,000 to 8,000 tons, "Su Hai 1" matches the capacity of a medium-sized salmon farm, all concentrated on a single vessel. As more aquaculture operations move into deeper and more exposed waters worldwide, the demands on equipment reliability and safety continue to rise. The success of "Su Hai 1" demonstrates that large-scale offshore farming is technically feasible and commercially viable.
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