The world's largest immersed tube prefabrication smart factory opened on Zhuhai's Niutou Island on June 5 to begin prefabricating 22 immersed tubes for the world-class Shenzhen-Zhongshan Corridor sea channel by the end of 2022.

Spanning 24 km (15 miles), the Shenzhen-Zhongshan link is a complex bridge, island, and tunnel project modeled after the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB). Upon completion in 2024, it will be an important passage between eastern and western cities of the Pearl River Delta, which have developed unevenly in recent decades.

Inauguration

Its construction, however, will be a highly complicated procedure. Each of the 22 tubes in the S09 section is to be 165 m (180 yd) long, 46 m (50 yd) wide, 10.6 m (12 yd) high and displace 80,000-odd tons, which surpasses that of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning.

Steel shells of the tubes will be constructed in a shipyard on Longxue Island of Nansha District, Guangzhou. They will then be delivered to the Niutou Island plant, which has been upgraded from the factory that prefabricated 33 HZMB immersed tubes. Smart trolley and casting systems independently developed by CCCC Fourth Harbor Engineering Co Ltd will be applied in the production.

Niutou immersed tube factory

Aerial view of the plant

Inside the facility [Photos by Wu Changfu / Zhuhai Daily]