On May 15, Junguang, Asia’s largest dredger built by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC) for CCCC Guangzhou Dredging Company, was officially put into service at Guangzhou Port. The vessel’s commissioning signals that China has entered a new development stage in high-end dredging equipment manufacturing, featuring super-large hopper capacity, full-process intelligent operation and eco-friendly low-carbon performance.
A dredger is a type of offshore engineering equipment that combines dredging, conveying, transport, and land reclamation into a single system. It operates by extending a dredging arm from the side or stern of the vessel into the seabed, where high-pressure water jets dislodge sediment, which is then sucked into the dredge hold by a powerful slurry pump.
The “Jun Guang” is the first vessel and prototype of ZPMC’s 35,000 m³ capacity class dredger. It measures 198 meters in length, 38.5 meters in beam, and 18 meters in draft, with a maximum dredging depth of 120 meters. With a total deadweight of 60,483 tons and a maximum capacity of 38,528 m³, it ranks second in the world and first in Asia.
The “Jun Guang” dredger has a dredging range exceeding 12 kilometers, which significantly expands its operational radius and can boost operational efficiency by more than 20%. Equipped with China’s independently developed “One-Button Dredging” and “Dredging-Navigation Integration” intelligent control systems, it enables fully automated control of the entire dredging process with minimal human intervention, ensuring both precise dredging and high operational efficiency.
In addition, the vessel is capable of operating in any waters worldwide and can perform operations stably in sea states up to Beaufort scale 8. It is well-suited for a wide range of marine construction applications, including port and waterway dredging, deep-sea sand extraction, land reclamation, deep-sea mining, trench excavation and backfilling, gravel subgrade construction, and deep-sea pipeline laying, demonstrating exceptional operational capabilities.
It is understood that following its commissioning, the “Jun Guang” will be immediately deployed to work on major projects such as the 200,000-tonne channel at the Port of Guangzhou and Phase V of the Nansha Port Area at the Port of Guangzhou.