On August 26th, Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery (ZPMC) held a launching ceremony for two 35,000m³ class ultra-large trailing suction hopper dredgers, the “Tongjun” and the “Junguang” – which were built for China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC).
It is understood that each of the two vessels has a designed length of 198 meters, a beam of 38.5 meters, a maximum dredging depth of 120 meters and a maximum hold capacity of 35,000 cubic meters, ranking first in Asia in terms of hopper capacity.
The conceptual design of the two dredgers was undertaken by CCCC Dredging. CCCC Tianjin Dredging Group and CCCC Guangzhou Dredging provide investment and take the lead in design and construction; the CCCC National Engineering Research Center of Dredging Technology and Equipment undertakes the EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) for design and construction as well as the development of the intelligent dredging system, and also collaborates with Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC) to specifically undertake the vessel design; ZPMC is in charge of the vessel construction; and CCCC Dredging takes responsibility for the procurement and development of on-board equipment.
As a new generation of high-end, intelligent and green trailing suction hopper dredgers, the “Tongjun” and “Junguang” feature four core advantages: smart operation, high efficiency, versatility and environmental friendliness. Their intelligent operation mode covers the entire “dredging – transportation – blowing” chain, and they boast outstanding performance such as “strong soil-breaking, deep dredging, long transport distances, and extended blow distances”. In the future, they can be widely applied to various construction scenarios including port and waterway dredging, deep-sea sand extraction, land reclamation by dredged fill, deep-sea mining, trench excavation and backfilling, crushed stone bed construction, and deep-sea pipeline laying.
Both vessels are capable of unlimited navigation and can operate in winds and waves of force 8. Equipped with the independently developed “one-button dredging” and “dredging and driving integrated” intelligent dredging control systems, a single crew member is required to complete all navigation and construction tasks, truly achieving fully automated dredging operations. The intelligent control system is at an internationally leading level. Under normal operating conditions, the vessels can completely fill the mud tanks within 90 minutes, achieving world-leading loading efficiency and a total deadweight of nearly 60,000 tons.
The two vessels undergoing the launching ceremony this time are hailed as a “Century Project” in the dredger construction industry. Leveraging the resource advantage of ZPMC Offshore’s own 300,000 DWT ultra-large dock, the project has deployed two independent production lines and configured two 500-ton gantry cranes, forming a “dual-vessel parallel” assembly network. By innovatively adopting the “digital shipyard + modular construction” approach, the construction efficiency has been improved by approximately 20%. This milestone signifies that China has achieved the capability of mass-producing ultra-large trailing suction hopper dredgers, greatly shortening the delivery cycle.