A ship with capacity of 55,000 tons was successfully launched using an air chamber in Taizhou, in east China's Zhejiang Province on Sunday.

Website of China News Service reports that this ship load breaks the world record for this launching technique.

The ship, Victoria 1, is 190 meters long, 32 meters wide and 18 meters tall. It was designed with a draft of 11.8 meters and built in January 2007 by a private shipbuilding enterprise.

"The technique of launching ships using an air chamber is the innovative technique of China's independent intellectual property rights, and I believe this technique will be widely used in the future," said an official with Taizhou Maritime Safety Administration.

This technology conquers the problem that small and medium dockyards faced when they were bound to the technique of slide boards and ways. The minor investment level, availability and safety of this process have met with favorable responses from shipbuilding enterprises.

On July 26, 2007, the Guoyu Haibo 1, which has a capacity of 45,000 tons, was launched by air chamber in Yangzhou City in east China's Jiangsu Province. It has a launch weight of 11,000 tons, which broke the world record at that time. Just one year later, the world record was broken again in Taizhou.

(CRIENGLISH.com August 5, 2008)