The sea surface of Bohai Bay is flat and the wind is positive. The cutter of a large dredging ship slowly cuts into the seabed, and the Tianjin Port Xingang Channel widening and dredging project has officially started offshore construction. As a key municipal project in Tianjin in 2026, this project with a total investment of 1.254 billion yuan is opening up a two-way sea fast lane for 300000 ton ships. As of mid September 2026, the first batch of dredging vessels have completed the positioning of the work surface, and the preliminary survey work for the upgrade of navigation aids has started simultaneously.

21.3-kilometer waterway upgrade

The project is located on the north side of the Nanjiang Port Area of Tianjin Port, in the Xingang Channel. A systematic widening and dredging of the 21.348 kilometer channel from east to west will be carried out, with a total dredging volume of approximately 14.97 million cubic meters. The western section of 9.6 kilometers is located in the Tianjin sea area, and the eastern section of 11.75 kilometers extends to the Tangshan sea area. It is constructed according to the two-way navigation standard for ships of 300000 tons, and simultaneously completes the dredging of the waterway, slope repair, supporting navigation facilities, and upgrading of intelligent control capabilities

Previously, when the 300000 ton waterway of Tianjin Port was one-way, the average waiting time for large ships exceeded 12 hours. After the completion of the two-way navigation transformation, the efficiency of ship passage can be improved by more than 40%.

Northern shipping hub upgraded again

After the completion of the project, it will fully release the function of the 300000 ton main channel, adapt to the current mainstream navigation needs of ultra large bulk carriers, and meet the navigation conditions for the subsequent upgrading and renovation of the port terminal. At present, the annual cargo throughput of Tianjin Port has exceeded 520 million tons, with over 180 ships of 300000 tons entering and leaving the port annually. After the bottleneck of the waterway is overcome, it can directly drive the improvement of the port's cargo turnover efficiency every year, further strengthen the maritime logistics support for the coordinated development of Beijing Tianjin Hebei, and help upgrade the core functions of Tianjin North International Shipping Hub.

From the constantly deepening and widening waterways beneath the sea surface to the 300000 ton giant ships shuttling back and forth, this dredging project is not only a deep transformation of the seabed, but also opens up a more efficient new channel for the entire Beijing Tianjin Hebei maritime logistics network.Editor/Cheng Liting