(Yicai) May 18 -- Guangzhou Port has begun full-scale construction of the fifth phase of the Nansha Port area, a project designed to handle 6.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units annually and further expand the southern Chinese shipping hub’s capacity.

Once completed, the Nansha Port area’s annual container handling capacity will increase to 35 million TEUs, placing it among the world’s largest single port areas by operational scale. The project will add four 200,000-ton deep-water container berths, along with several berths for inland waterway, coastal, and work vessels.

The expansion is expected to significantly improve Guangzhou’s ability to accommodate ultra-large vessels and strengthen ocean trunk-line services, helping the city develop into an international shipping hub, said Huang Bo, chairman of Guangzhou Port Group.

After completion, the fifth phase project will operate alongside the Nansha Port area’s existing 20 deep-water container berths capable of handling 150,000-ton and 200,000-ton vessels, as well as four additional deep-water berths currently under construction at the port’s international general terminal.

Smart Dredging Technology Supports Major Capacity Expansion

Construction of the project also marked the launch of the “Jun Guang,” a 35,000-cubic-meter trailing suction hopper dredger that is the largest of its kind in Asia. The vessel will support dredging operations for the port expansion project, Yicai learned at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The “Jun Guang” is equipped with the world’s first adjustable-angle high-pressure water jet system installed on both sides of the bow. Its rake head can dredge to depths of about 120 meters below the seabed, while excavated sediment can be transported as far as 12 kilometers away to designated disposal sites.

The vessel’s overall operational efficiency is more than 20 percent higher than that of traditional dredgers, according to information obtained by Yicai. Supported by an intelligent control system independently developed in China, the dredger can achieve fully automated dredging operations and maintain stable performance in force 8 wind and wave conditions.

Since the first phase of Nansha Port began operations in September 2004, the port area’s container throughput capacity has expanded by about one million TEUs annually, reaching 22 million TEUs in 2025. That contributed significantly to Guangzhou Port’s total container throughput exceeding 28 million TEUs last year.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine