China converts small container feeder into missile-packed arsenal ship

China’s growing naval power is reshaping the balance at sea in the Western Pacific, where control of key routes remains vital for the United States and its allies. The new open-source imagery from Shanghai shows that the People’s Liberation Army has converted a small container feeder into a missile-heavy arsenal ship.

 

The vessel, Zhong Da 79, is a Chinese-flagged container feeder about 320 feet long. She has no IMO number or Equasis record, pointing to purely domestic operations. AIS data from Pole Star Global confirms that the ship trades only along China’s eastern and southern coastline.

 

Tracking data indicates a lengthy refit over the past year. According to AIS records, Zhong Da 79 entered a regional shipyard in Longhai in mid-April and reappeared in mid-August. Since then, she has remained moored near an industrial pier on the Huangpu River in Shanghai.

 

Zhong Da 79 lacks the speed and protection of a true warship and would be vulnerable without escort. The broader issue is scale. China controls nearly 8,000 domestically flagged vessels and owns another 4,400 ships under foreign registries, providing a large pool for rapid and low-cost conversions.

 

China’s shipyards and defence industry can support such projects quickly. In a high-end conflict, arsenal-style boxships could absorb precision munitions, complicate targeting, blend into civilian traffic, and be replaced far faster than conventional surface combatants.

 

Source: The Maritime Executive

Picture: @RickJoe_PLA / Х