Beijing's waterborne forces have become very active over the past five years. Sortie rates and the number of global maritime deployments by the People's Liberation Army Navy are growing. China's limited global logistics framework, particularly in terms of replenishment ships and available ports for resupply and maintenance, is increasingly a constraint for all this intensifying naval activity. While China could adequately support its fleet operations in the East and South China seas given its current fleet train, Beijing's expanding global deployments in particular are beginning to task its supply ships — despite the fact that China has the second-largest oceangoing replenishment fleet in the world.
To address this growing deficiency, the Chinese have resorted to three measures. First, they are investing heavily in new replenishment vessels. The Chinese are continuing the construction of Type 903A replenishment ships, with another hull spotted in a building berth at shipyards in Guangzhou as recently as last week. The proven Type 903 is likely to be the mainstay of the Chinese replenishment fleet and will eventually replace the obsolete Fuqing-class vessels that first entered service in the 1980s.
Second, Beijing is making use of civilian tankers. The Chinese navy has resorted to improvisation in certain cases where demand has outstripped supply. As a result, the Chinese navy is putting in place measures to allow its ships to undergo both parallel and tandem replenishment from Chinese civilian tankers.
Finally, China is seeking to enhance the number of foreign ports available to Chinese vessels for replenishment and maintenance. It is hard to underestimate the value of such resupply points, with the U.S. Navy benefiting from and utilizing a vast number of friendly ports for such purposes across the globe, greatly enhancing its peaceful and wartime operations.
