Industry – July 20, 2026
Guoxin No. 1: China launches £1.8m refit of floating fish farm
Chinese state-owned Qingdao Guoxin Development Group has launched a tender for a major technical refit of its Guoxin No. 1 offshore aquaculture vessel.
The contract, valued at an estimated RMB 17 million ($2.36 million), covers dock modification work under the Guoxin No. 1 Aquaculture Workboat Technical Transformation Project, according to Daniela Zhongde Huang, writing on LinkedIn.
Tender documents require bidders to have access to a repair dock capable of accommodating vessels of at least 100,000 tonnes, as well as recent experience in large-vessel or offshore engineering projects. Detailed specifications for the work have not been disclosed.
Guoxin No. 1 was delivered by Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding in May 2022 following an investment of approximately RMB 450 million.
The 249.9-metre vessel has a beam of 45 metres and contains 15 aquaculture tanks with a combined rearing volume of almost 90,000 cubic metres.
The vessel operates by moving between farming areas along China’s coast in search of favourable water temperatures and to reduce exposure to typhoons, algal blooms and other environmental risks. Species trialled or proposed for production include large yellow croaker, grouper, Atlantic salmon and yellowtail amberjack.
Guoxin No. 1 has completed more than 1,200 days of operation and sailed almost 20,000 nautical miles, according to Huang.
The company has since developed two larger second-generation vessels, Guoxin No. 1 2-1 and 2-2. The 150,000-tonne ships incorporate greater automation, larger farming areas and redesigned water-exchange and fish-handling systems.
The tender does not confirm whether similar technologies will be installed aboard the original vessel. However, the scale of the required docking facilities indicates that the project will involve more extensive structural or systems work than routine maintenance.
The refit forms part of Guoxin’s development of a three-vessel offshore aquaculture fleet based in Qingdao.
