Recently, it was learned during the 2024 State owned Enterprise Open Day event of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation that the construction of a domestically produced 35000 cubic meter giant drag suction dredger has made phased progress: in terms of design, about 60% of the workload has been completed; In terms of construction, some segmented construction has been completed and is expected to be completed and delivered in the first half of 2026. At that time, the ship will become the largest drag suction dredger in Asia. Rendering of a 35000 square meter giant drag suction dredger. The ship was invested by China Communications Construction Group Co., Ltd., developed and designed by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation's 708th Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as "708th Institute"), and officially started construction by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Qidong Ocean Engineering Co., Ltd. in January this year. According to the design, the ship has a total length of about 195 meters, a width of 38.5 meters, a depth of 18.0 meters, a dredging draft of 13 meters, a maximum mud hold capacity of about 35000 cubic meters, and a maximum excavation depth of 120 meters. The ship adopts a bulbous bow, dual caudal fin hull, and advanced "one tow two" composite drive mode, equipped with dual ducted propellers, dual rakes, dual underwater pumps, and in cabin pumps. It has functions such as mud gate unloading, single and dual pump bow blowing, and dual bow jet discharge to the shore, as well as an advanced intelligent dredging control system. The ship also reserves the function of using methanol fuel. "This ship has the technical characteristics of strong loading capacity, strong excavation capacity, green, efficient and intelligent, and is mainly applicable to the dredging, reclamation and deepwater sand taking projects in the Yangtze River Estuary, the Pearl River Estuary and other coastal ports." Ship design master and chief expert of the 708 Institute, Fei Long, said. According to their size, drag suction dredgers are classified into small, medium, large, and giant. A giant drag suction dredger refers to a drag suction dredger with a capacity of over 30000 cubic meters. As of now, the largest drag suction dredger in China is 26800 cubic meters and has not yet been delivered. Fei Long introduced that the biggest challenge of designing and constructing a 35000 square meter giant drag suction dredger is to solve key equipment problems for ships, such as power systems, electric drive systems, and 5000 kilowatt underwater motors. The development of this ship will fill the equipment gap of China's 30000 cubic meter giant drag suction dredger, effectively promote the development and technological level improvement of dredging equipment and shipbuilding upstream and downstream industries, "Fei Long said. The 708 Institute has been involved in the development and design of dredging equipment since the 1990s. Up to now, it has independently developed, designed, and delivered more than 40 large, medium, and small drag suction dredgers, achieving a leap from importing whole ships to independent research and development of large, medium, and small drag suction dredgers in China. (New Society)