Port expansion Shanghai

Port expansion Shanghai

Van de Looij, J.

Groenveld, R. (mentor)
Schreuder, M.H. (mentor)
Van der Schrieck, G.L.M. (mentor)
Ligteringen, H. (mentor)

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Hydraulic Engineering

1997-03-20

China's economy is growing rapidly. For 1997 an economic growth of 10.5 per cent is expected (source: Economic pages of de Volkskrant, December 1996). With the economic growth the demand for new industrial zones and harbour areas arises. To facilitate these demands the port authority of Shanghai faces two major problems: the shortage of free land and the shallow depth of the entrance channel to Shanghai. To counter the first problem, the lack of free land, the Chinese authorities appointed special port planning zones. These areas are strictly reserved for future port development. Unfortunately, the special port planning zone of Shanghai, called Jinshanwei, is located some 100 kilometres away from the city centre and the existing harbours. This is a very unworkable situation. Therefore new alternative plans have been developed. The first plan involves the reclamation of new land along the south bank of the Yangtze River. On this new land terminals can be built. The new terminals will be separated from the Yangtze river by a dam. Thereby an artificial canal to the sea is recreated. This plan is called the coastal canal option. The second plan involves the conversion of two islands, close to Shanghai, into new port areas. This plan anticipates at the expected great economic burst of the cities upstream along the Yangtze river. The most important function of the new terminals at these island will be providing a cargo transit-hub to the ports upriver. The islands in the mouth of the Yangtze delta are Changxing and Hengsha. In the future the terminals at these island can be linked with an eight kilometre long bridge to the industrial centre of Shanghai; the Pudong area. The second, and most acute, problem of Shanghai's port is the shallow depth of its entrance channel. Currently the depth of the channel is some seven metres below Chart Datum. At spring tide a maximum water depth of eleven metres is available. These depths are far to small for today's modem vessels. Therefore the Chinese, together with Dutch counterparts, conducted intensive research to the deepening of the entrance channel. The research showed that a combination of river training dams and dredging works will provide the opportunity to deepen the channel from CD-7.oo metre to CD-12.50 metre. With aid of a newly developed entrance channel dredging simulation model the dredging of the entrance channel has been simulated. Five large 15000 m) trailing suction hopper dredgers can bring the channel to its desired depth in some 3.5 years. Thereby taking in account limiting conditions such as waves, gales and typhoons. Currently new dredging techniques are under development and made commercially available. One of these dredging methods is called water injection dredging (WlD). As combination of conventional trailing suction hopper dredgers and water injection dredgers could be the ideal solution for the dredging operations within Shanghai. Soil and seabed conditions are very favourable for WlD. This requires further research. The entrance channel dredging simulation model can be expanded with a module, representing the process of a water injection dredger. New simulation runs and evaluations should provide the answer whether a combination of these dredgers lives up to its high expectations. Perhaps this is the solution to Shanghai's entrance channel problems.

Shanghai
Port planning
Water Injection Dredging
access channel

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Student theses

master thesis

(c) 1997 J. van de Looij