On October 21, the national heavy equipment "Tiankun" arrived at Qinzhou Port in Guangxi. It entered Guangxi for the first time for construction and participated in the adjustment project of the expansion project of the east channel of Qinzhou Port.

According to reports, the Qinzhou Port East Channel Expansion Project is a key construction project for a new land-sea channel in the western part of the country and a key project to build an international gateway port in the Beibu Gulf. The "Tiankun" will participate in the first phase of the 100,000-ton two-way channel expansion project of Qinzhou Port. "Tiankun" was put into the construction bid section this time. The length of the dredging channel is 4000 meters and the total construction area is about 1.6 million square meters. The 15-kilometer umbilical cord of "Tiankun" can smash and suck out the mixture of sea sand, seawater and even deep-sea rocks at an efficiency of 6000 cubic meters per hour and discharge it to a maximum of 15 kilometers when performing blow-filling operations. Direct dredging and reclamation in the offshore waters will save 50% of the construction time, which will help the production and operation ships of Qinzhou Port free up more navigation time.

"Tiankun" is the first domestically designed and built heavy-duty self-propelled cutter suction vessel with completely independent intellectual property rights. Its technological advancement and structural complexity are among the forefront of similar ships. The ship is 140 meters in length and 27.8 meters in width. The maximum digging depth can reach 35 meters, and it is equipped with the most powerful digging system among the dredgers in use in Asia. The cutter power reaches 6000 kilowatts. According to the geological conditions, it is equipped with 4 different types: general purpose, clay, rock digging and heavy rock digging. This type of reamer can excavate rocks with a unilateral compressive strength of less than 50 MPa, which can be described as "cutting rocks like mud".

In March 2019, "Tiankun" was officially put into production, undertaking national project construction tasks along the Belt and Road. In October, "Tiankun" won its first battle and completed all the dredging tasks of overseas projects. In December, participated in the construction of the 100,000-ton-class waterway extension project in the Ganyu port area of Lianyungang Port in China, and successfully "gnawed" rocks with a hardness of up to 70 MPa. The performance of the excavation system far exceeded the design standard, and the power system of the ship The propulsion system, steel pile trolley system, and intelligent integrated control system have all withstood actual combat tests.

It is understood that the Qinzhou Maritime Safety Administration has opened a "green channel" for water and underwater activities permits to connect with the engineering project department in advance. In early September this year, it began to organize mud pipelines and accessories, auxiliary ships, machinery and other equipment to enter the site one after another. More than 1,800 meters of underwater pipelines have been completed, and more than 400 meters of water pipelines have been completed. Two anchor boats arrived near the construction area and stood by at any time to meet the construction needs of "Tiankun", and it is planned to be completed in June 2021. Editor/Sang Xiaomei