In Jiangsu Nantong Port, the decommissioned aircraft carrier “Minsk” that had been anchored for 8 years unexpectedly caught fire on Friday (16th). The local government had planned to invest a total of 16 billion yuan, hoping to develop a tourism project using the aircraft carrier. However, due to recent financial constraints, the tourism project involving the aircraft carrier had become a “white elephant” for the local government.
Around 9 p.m. on August 16, the Nantong City Fire Rescue Brigade in Jiangsu Province posted an announcement on its official Weibo account stating that a fire broke out during the dismantling and renovation of an old aircraft carrier along the Yangtze River in the Su Xitong Park around 4 p.m. that day. Currently, the fire department and rescue teams are on-site working to contain the situation.
Although the Nantong fire department did not directly name the specific “old aircraft carrier” involved, according to reports from media outlets such as Phoenix News and Observer Net, the aircraft carrier in question was the former Soviet Navy’s “Minsk” aircraft carrier.
A netizen who shot a video claimed: “It’s nearly 9 p.m. now, this aircraft carrier has been burning for 5 hours, the land is covered with firefighters but they cannot come aboard. The deck of the aircraft carrier is all burned, the island has collapsed, the situation is a mess.”
Several online videos circulated on August 16 showed thick smoke emanating from various parts of the “Minsk” aircraft carrier during the daytime. By around 9 p.m., the fire had intensified significantly, with thick smoke billowing from the scene.
According to public records, the aircraft carrier “Minsk” belonged to the former Soviet Navy and was sold as scrap steel to the South Korean Daewoo Group after retiring in 1993. In 1998, before being dismantled, it was purchased for 5.3 million dollars by a company in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and towed to the Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard for extensive closed-door repairs and renovations. The aircraft carrier had sparked interest from the Chinese military.
In November 1999, according to a report from the “Yangcheng Evening News,” a fire broke out on the Soviet “Minsk” retired aircraft carrier undergoing renovation at the Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard, leading to the detention of two workers from an engineering and technical services company for 7 days.
In January 2001, according to Chinanews.com, the “Minsk” aircraft carrier was investigated for setting off fireworks and firecrackers without permission, resulting in a deputy general manager and an assistant to the president of the Minsk Carrier World Limited being detained for 15 days.
In 2013, the Dalian Yongjia Group acquired the “Minsk” aircraft carrier, and the following year, the group signed an agreement with the Nantong Suzhou Science and Technology Industrial Park to invest in the aircraft carrier tourism resort project. In 2016, the “Minsk” aircraft carrier was towed from Shenzhen to Nantong, Jiangsu, where it has been anchored near the north side of the Sutong Bridge for 8 years now.
Just before the fire incident involving the “Minsk” aircraft carrier, the Shanghai Institute for Industrial Transformation and Development published an article on August 13 titled “Does the ‘Minsk’ Aircraft Carrier Anchored at the Mouth of the Yangtze River for 8 Years Still Have Potential?”.
The article quoted public information stating that Nantong hoped to develop the “Nantong Yangtze Aircraft Carrier International Tourism Resort Project” with the help of the “Minsk” aircraft carrier, with a total planned investment of 16 billion yuan, led by the Dalian Yongjia Group.
The project was scheduled to commence in early 2022 and open in 2025; with the third phase reserved for cultural and tourism projects. However, since the anchoring of the “Minsk” aircraft carrier at the harbor near the Sutong Bridge in 2016, there had been no progress.
On June 21, 2022, Nantong City released an implementation plan titled “Implementation Plan for Constructing ‘Four Major Business Districts and Two Major Clusters,'” which specifically mentioned creating a central leisure and tourism business district with attractions like the aircraft carrier theme park and the Nantong boutique museum.
In January of this year, the Nantong “Jianghai Daily” reported that one of the new landmarks in Nantong’s cultural tourism, the National Defense Scientific Education Base, was set to commence construction before the New Year and was planned to open officially before the National Day holiday in 2024. The upgrading and renovation project of the “Minsk” aircraft carrier and the Tanshuiwan Water Park project were among the first phase of projects with a total investment of approximately 2 billion yuan.
The article from the Shanghai Institute for Industrial Transformation and Development noted that the delay in launching the Nantong “Minsk” aircraft carrier project ultimately stemmed from financial issues. The cost of the “Minsk” aircraft carrier theme park project was exorbitant. After all, with local governments facing financial constraints, investing billions in building a cultural and tourism theme park posed significant risks.
The article stated that for Nantong, the “Minsk” aircraft carrier now seemed like a piece of “white elephant,” developing it would require substantial investment with uncertain returns; on the other hand, scrapping it for sale seemed regrettable given the previous expenditures and publicity efforts made.
Now, after this fire incident, this “white elephant” of Nantong City may indeed be abandoned.