Anchor Chain Standards in China: What the GB Registry Shows

Last updated: 4 November 2026.

Procurement usually starts with a drawing and a grade, not with a standards list. That order is backwards in China, where the registry tells you which document a supplier's certificate is supposed to be citing — and, just as usefully, which citations are out of date. This page reads the registry result for one keyword, 锚链 (anchor chain), as it was returned on 4 November 2026.

What the registry actually returns

Eleven records, no filter applied beyond the keyword and the "all statuses" view. Every field below is the registry's own text: number, title, nature, status, issue date and effective date.

No.	Title (as registered)	Nature	Status	Effective
GB/T 549-2017	电焊锚链	推荐性	现行	2017-09-01
GB/T 553-2012	锚链涂漆和标志	推荐性	现行	2013-07-01
GB/T 18669-2025	船用锚链和系泊链钢	推荐性	现行	2026-01-01
GB/T 47047-2026	海上结构物 海上移动平台 锚链轮	推荐性	现行	2026-08-01
GB/T 549-2008	电焊锚链	推荐性	废止	2008-09-01
GB/T 549-1996	电焊锚链	推荐性	废止	1996-11-01
GB/T 552-1996	铸造锚链钢	推荐性	废止	1996-10-01
GB/T 553-1983	锚链涂漆和标志	推荐性	废止	1984-05-01
GB/T 11580-1989	小艇 锚链	推荐性	废止	1990-03-01
GB/T 18669-2002	船用锚链圆钢	推荐性	废止	2002-07-01
GB/T 18669-2012	船用锚链圆钢	推荐性	废止	2013-05-01

Read the nature column before anything else. All eleven entries are marked 推荐性 — recommended, not mandatory. In this family the registry returned no compulsory (强制性) record at all, so a Chinese supplier's obligation to meet a particular document comes from the purchase contract, a classification-society rule or an end-user specification, not from the standard being compulsory.

Two families, four live documents

The eleven rows collapse into recognisable chains.

Welded anchor chain. GB/T 549 exists in three versions in this result: 1996, 2008 and 2017. Only the 2017 edition is current; the two earlier editions remain in the database because certificates and drawings citing them still circulate. A supplier quoting "GB/T 549" without a year is not quoting a document, because three different texts answer to that number.

Marking and paint. GB/T 553 follows the same pattern, 1983 withdrawn and 2012 current. It governs how a chain is painted and marked — the identification layer, not the mechanical layer, which is a distinction worth keeping separate in a specification.

Steel for chain. GB/T 18669 has moved twice: 2002 and 2012 editions are both withdrawn, and the current text is GB/T 18669-2025, titled 船用锚链和系泊链钢 — note that the scope in the title widened from round bar for anchor chain to steel for anchor and mooring chain. It became effective on 2026-01-01, so it is a recent substitution rather than a long-settled one.

The offshore addition. GB/T 47047-2026 covers the chain wheel on mobile offshore units and took effect on 2026-08-01. It is the newest entry in the result and the only one aimed at the offshore rather than the shipboard application.

What the registry does not tell you

A standards list is often mistaken for a specification. It is not, and the gaps here are specific:

• No grade or dimension data. The registry gives titles, not contents. Nothing in the result states a chain grade, a link diameter, a proof load or a test acceptance criterion. Those live inside the document bodies, which the registry does not reproduce.
• No equivalence statement. The result does not say how any GB/T entry maps onto a classification-society grade or an international standard. That mapping has to come from the body of the standard or from the class society, and guessing it is how non-conforming chain reaches a vessel.
• No supplier approval. A registry entry is not a certification. It says a document exists and is current; it says nothing about whether a given mill's chain conforms to it.
• No withdrawal reason. Seven entries are marked withdrawn without a stated cause. Do not read "withdrawn" as "defective" — most were superseded by a revision of the same number.

A purchase-order checklist

Judgement, not registry content: these are the fields we would want filled before a chain order leaves the desk. Where the registry can help, it is noted.

1. Standard number with year. Not "GB/T 549" but the edition, checked against the table above. Anything else is ambiguous by design.
2. Grade and dimensions, stated in the PO. Since the registry carries no grade data, the buyer has to write the requirement rather than point at a title.
3. Which body certifies. Name the inspection body and the document it will issue; a mill certificate and a third-party certificate are different products.
4. Marking and paint requirement. If the end user cares how the chain is identified, GB/T 553-2012 is the entry to cite — and it is a separate line item from the mechanical requirement.
5. Application, in the supplier's words. Shipboard and offshore chain wheels fall under different entries in this result, so a supplier who quotes one for the other is telling you something about how they read the enquiry.

For the wider marine rigging picture — how a wire-rope number is checked, and what the certificates should contain — see our wire rope guide. The general question of how Chinese standards are structured, and how a GB number relates to a GB/T number, is set out in the GB standards guide.

No new source was retrieved beyond the registry response reproduced above. The checklist section is editorial and contains no figures.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

All sources retrieved 4 November 2026. This page is an independent reading of the sources listed; the official pages themselves are the specification.

Fact used on this page	Source
All eleven records: numbers, titles, nature, status, issue and effective dates — National standards registry query, keyword anchor chain, page size 50	Retrieved 4 November 2026 https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage
Recommended-versus-compulsory classification shown per record — Same registry response, nature field	Retrieved 4 November 2026 https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage