On May 18^th, 2017, China's first marine gas hydrate (combustible ice) was successfully tested, and the "Blue Whale #1", which undertook the task of mining, was designed and built by China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd. (CIMC). It is the most advanced super-deep water double drilling rigs semi-submersible drilling platform, weighing 42,000 tons. Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Materials Co., Ltd., one of the four major suppliers, supplies about 10,000 tons of grade 36 marine steel plate, mainly used for the building structure above the platform.  .

Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Materials Co., Ltd., which started the research and development of marine steel in 2008, has grown rapidly into a strong force. The marine steel of Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Materials Co., Ltd. received certification of three classification societies including ABS (USA), DNV (Norway) and CCS (China) and was used in more than 10 drilling platform successively, like the GV2000 jack-up drilling platform, CT300 / 400 jack-up drilling platform and JG500 jack-up drilling platform with a total amount of nearly 300,000 tons.

Featuring strong corrosion resistance, high strength and high toughness, "Blue Whale #1" marine steel has extremely high requirements on cold or extremely cold temperature impact resistance. After winning the bidding, Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Materials Co., Ltd. attached great importance to it and made it the top priority. The company implemented the key customer system, established a dedicated team of one-stop personal services including early intervention, took all orders without hesitation and supplied all buyers with products. It took advantage of the integrated system of production, marketing and research, and provide customized products, meanwhile it strengthened the production system and all-round quality control during logistics transportation. It is challenging to develop the steel plate that has light weight and strong load-bearing capacity, meets the requirement on thickness and make sure that the dead weight be below 2%. To this end, production engineers and technical staff conducted repeated researches and experiments with 1.5 % as a goal, and resulted in 1.8%, effectively solving the problem of bearing capacity and dead weight. The light steel plate with load-bearing capacity is popular among users. They said that steel, in strict accordance with design needs, perfectly met the requirements of the "Blue Whale #1." The quick response and 24-hour transportation of Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Materials Co., Ltd. ensure the immediately available delivery.

"Blue Whale #1." drilling platform, currently the semi-submersible drilling platform with the maximized operating water depth and drilling depth in the world, having been classified in Det Norske Veritas, one of Norwegian classification societies. The named Blue Whale carries rich connotations. As large as a standard football field, the platform 37-story-high from the ship bottom to the drilling rig top.