China uses civilian ships for amphibious operations

The military of the People’s Republic of China uses commercial vessels to practice amphibious operations.

Naval News reported on this.

China has invested heavily in the development of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. However, its amphibious warfare fleet remains insufficient for any major amphibious operation.

The available boats are not enough to conduct any major amphibious operation.

That is why the Chinese government has to rely on civilian vessels.

According to the latest data from the US Office of Naval Intelligence, the PLA Navy currently possesses eight Type 071 landing platform docks (LPD), three Type 075 landing helicopter docks (LHD), 32 landing ship tanks (LST), less than 50 smaller landing ships, six Zubr-class hovercraft, and at least 15 Yuyi-class hovercraft.

This number is still not enough for a conditional landing operation in Taiwan. The use of commercial vessels would help boost China’s shipping capacity.

The PLAN’s reliance on roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) ferries was illustrated during a recent amphibious exercise in Fujian Province, which sits opposite Taiwan.

Four RoRo ferries were spotted in Xiamen on September 21 via a vessel tracking website.

Tom Shugart, Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, first tweeted that these four and two other commercial ferries had unusually diverted from normal operations in the Yellow Sea.

Shugart managed to identify four ferries: Bo Hai Bao Zhu, Bo Hai Heng Da, Bo Hai Fei Zhu, and Bo Hai Cui Zhu, all owned by the Bohai Ferry Group.

These ships, cumulatively displacing some 100,000 tonnes, were tracked to port facilities, as well as beaches in the Xiamen area.

These vessels are assigned to the Maritime Militia’s Eight Transport Group for military operations and exercises.

It is a deliberate policy for the PLAN to use such ships. In fact, on June 17, 2015, the Chinese government published national defense standards concerning the construction of new civilian vessels to meet minimum requirements for PLAN mobilization.

Experts point out that even the use of civilian cargo ships might not be enough to ensure China’s reliable logistics needs during a possible Taiwan conflict.

Militarnyi previously reported that Japan was accelerating the process of purchasing Tomahawk cruise missiles due to the increase in the number of Chinese ships passing near Japanese territorial waters.