GUAYAQUIL -- An oceanographic research ship of the Chinese Navy on June 12 ended its five-day goodwill visit to Ecuador, the fourth stop in its six-month global voyage that aimed to strengthen international cooperation through scientific and technical exchanges.

On behalf of the China Hydrographic Bureau, the Zhu Kezhen, the newest oceanographic research ship designed and built independently by China, paid its first visit to Ecuador, a member state of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).

Captain Lv Jiedong, deputy commander of a combat support ship flotilla under the East China Sea Fleet, said the Zhu Kezhen, named after a prominent Chinese meteorologist, geologist and educator, has started its global voyage paying visits to foreign countries since February.

Before coming to the Guayaquil Port, the Chinese ship has made calls at the Louis Port in Mauritius, Port of Cape Town in South Africa and Salvador Port in Brazil. After the stop in Ecuador, ship Zhu Kezhen will sail to Micronesia in July before returning to China in early August.

Since the start of its voyage from Zhoushan in the east of China, the Zhu Kezhen has sailed up to 23,000 nautical miles in the past 120 days and nights, crossing four continents, three oceans, six straits and the equator, Captain Lv said, adding that the ship has carried out anti-piracy drill, emergency survey, damage control exercises and tactical searches during the voyage.

During its friendly visits in Brazil and Ecuador, both of which are IHO member states, the ship has carried out academic and scientific exchanges with its foreign counterparts, he said.

Since China joined the IHO, the Chinese Naval Hydrographic Office (CNHO) has strengthened technical exchanges with member countries and taken relevant obligations. In 2012, the Chinese navy sent a survey ship to attend the 18th international hydrographic conference in Monaco for the first time. Until now, the CNHO has established bonds with several nations in information sharing and cooperation.

Lv said that with the Chinese navy going overseas, technical and scientific exchanges like this will become commonplace. Through these exchanges and cooperation, he said, the CNHO will work together with other nations to provide accurate information for worldwide navigation.

As the newest oceanographic survey ship built by China, the ship Zhu Kezhen has take up huge tasks since its commissioning. Especially in searching for missing Malaysian flight MH370, it has sailed 34,000 nautical miles in 157 days, he said.

The ship boasted “three first times and three records”: the first time for Chinese navy to finish mapping the South Indian Ocean, the first time to take part in international joint search and rescue operation, and the first time to take comprehensive oceanographic survey in South Indian Ocean; overseas deployment for the longest time, the longest navigation range and the longest time in high sea condition (wave over four-meter high), according to Captain Lv.

From May to October in 2014, the Zhu Kezhen crossed the equator twice, held technical exchanges with Malaysian and Australian delegations three times and offered 4 million sets of data to the Joint Agency Coordination Center seven times, Lv said. Moreover, the ship discovered two seamounts with precise measuring and mapping in a specific task, which provided accurate reference for international ocean bottom naming, he added.

The Chinese naval ship is taking the first step towards global navigation, he said, noting that facing new missions, the Zhu Kezhen would work even harder to hammer out new sailing routes and enhance scientific exchanges with other member nations.