Work on the ship built for the Royal Thai Navy went well and the ship was completed on August 12, 1996. Zhang Wende, the chief designer personally stayed on board the ship for twelve days during the voyage to Thailand, gathering information at the very last moment, so that it would help in the future design of the next generation Chinese replenishment ship. Whenever possible, Zhang personally operated the ship, including radars, handling boats the ship carried, and other tasks. The ship was formally accepted to the Thai naval service on September 12, 1996, and was named HTMS "Similan" (pennant number 187).