ZPMC Beats its Own Record With World’s Largest Pile-Driving Vessel

Chinese state-owned conglomerate ZPMC is known best for its STS gantry cranes, which can be found in ports around the world, but its shipyard division – Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Qidong Marine Engineering – is also a top builder of specialty vessels. It has just launched the world’s largest pile-driving vessel, the Erhang Changqing, beating a record it set just two years ago. 

The Erhang Changqing is a 430-foot-long barge-shaped vessel with a massive derrick at the stern. The derrick stands 500 feet tall, and it can drive a 22-foot-wide, 700-tonne pile with a force of 5,000 tonnes. According to ZPMC, its positioning system is so precise that it can place a pile within centimeters of the designated location on the seabed. 

ZPMC also built the previous record holder, the pile-driving barge Yi Hang Jin Zhuang, delivered to state-owned CCCC First Harbor Engineering in 2022. This earlier vessel’s derrick is slightly shorter than Erhang Changqing’s, and its maximum pile diameter is slightly smaller. According to China Classification Society, the attachment points between the pile derrick and the hull had to be manufactured to within two millimeters of tolerance, requiring precise planning and attention to detail during welding. 

Among other applications, these vessels are designed for installing offshore wind turbine piles and jacket piles for offshore structures. China’s manufacturers build the largest offshore wind turbines in the world, requiring extra-large vessels for foundation and turbine installations. 

They are also deployed for heavy civil works projects like bridge construction. Yi Hang Jin Zhuang made its debut on a bridge foundation reinforcement project in Xiangshan, Zhejiang Province in early 2023. 

ZPMC Qidong is also building the world’s largest FPSO, the N1151 (P-82), destined for installation off Brazil for oil major Petrobras. The first half of the FPSO’s hull was launched earlier this year.