Chinese naval taskforce docks at Djibouti for replenishment

The amphibious dock landing ship "Changbaishan"of the 18th escort taskforce of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is docking at the Port of Djibouti for the third round of in-port rest and replenishment. (People's Daily/Sun Haichao)

The amphibious dock landing ship "Changbaishan" of the 18th escort taskforce of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) that just completed the 778th escort mission docked at the Port of Djibouti on November 3, 2014, local time, for a five-day-long in-port rest and replenishment.

This is the third round of in-port rest and replenishment for the 18th Chinese naval escort taskforce since it set sail on August 1 this year.

As the amphibious dock landing ship "Changbaishan" sailed into the Port of Djibouti at 09:00 on November 3, Fu Huaqiang, Chinese ambassador to Djibouti, welcomed it with the embassy staff and representatives of Chinese enterprises, and boarded the "Changbaishan" ship for visit and held talks with the naval officers and men.

So far the 18th Chinese naval escort taskforce has completed 29 batches of escort missions, escorted 77 Chinese and foreign ships, provided special escort for 10 Chinese merchant ships in seven batches, and successfully driven away a number of suspicious skiffs, ensuring the safety of the escorted ships as well as itself.

To ensure the continuous and uninterrupted implementation of escort tasks, the "Yuncheng" and "Chaohu" warships of the escort taskforce will undertake the escort mission in the Gulf of Aden during the "Changbaishan" ship's in-port rest and replenishment.