The Development History of Cutter Suction Dredgers

On February 12, 1998, a 1,750-cubic-meter cutter suction dredger was completed and delivered to the Yangtze River Waterway Bureau. As the first large-scale cutter suction dredger independently designed and built by my country in the 20th century, it achieved the international technical standards of the 1990s and advanced the technology for large-scale, automated engineering vessels in my country.
In 2006, "Tianshi," my country's first domestically designed and built large-scale cutter suction dredger, was successfully delivered. Its construction cost was approximately half that of imported vessels, effectively breaking the foreign monopoly on this technology.
In 2010, "Tianjing," my country's first super-large self-propelled cutter suction dredger, made its debut. It featured a cutter power of 4,200 kW, a dredging capacity of 4,500 cubic meters per hour, and a maximum discharge distance of 6,000 meters, equipped with what was then the most powerful excavation system in Asia.
In 2019, "Tiankun"-Asia's largest heavy-duty self-propelled cutter suction dredger-was completed and put into operation. Measuring 140 meters in length, it boasted a cutter power of 6,600 kW, a dredging capacity of 6,000 cubic meters per hour, and a maximum discharge distance of 15,000 meters. It pioneered a dual-positioning system combining a steel spud carriage with a three-cable setup, offering strong adaptability to harsh sea conditions and incorporating over a thousand independent innovations. That same year, the "Tianjing" series of equipment won the Special Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award for its breakthroughs in the independent R&D and industrialization of large-scale offshore cutter suction dredging equipment.
On April 22, 2025, "Junlan"-the world's largest fully electric-driven, demountable, and eco-friendly cutter suction dredger-entered service. Utilizing variable-frequency electric drive technology, it features a maximum dredging depth of 25 meters and a capacity of 2,000 cubic meters per hour. It achieves zero-carbon emissions and possesses capabilities for intelligent operational parameter optimization and rapid modular deployment.
Driven by breakthroughs in this series of key equipment, China's annual dredging volume has surpassed 1 billion cubic meters, making it the world's leading dredging nation.