China News Service, Shanghai, October 6 (Chen Jing, Ye Zhenyu) On the 6th, at the Luhuashan Anchorage of Shanghai Port, as the final lashing and fixing, equipment maintenance and other work were completed, the "Smiling Angel" semi-submersible ship sailed to the Port of Salvador, Brazil, carrying five supporting engineering ships for the Brazilian "Salvador-Itaparica" Bridge (hereinafter referred to as the bridge) project undertaken by China.
Salvador is an important industrial and port city in northeastern Brazil. This city faces Itaparica Island across Halloween Bay. The straight-line distance between the two places is less than 14 kilometers. However, because of the bay, travel can only rely on ferries or a detour of about 200 kilometers by land. After the completion of the entire bridge project, the travel time on the main line between the two places will be reduced from more than 60 minutes to about 15 minutes, which will help create employment, improve logistics efficiency, and optimize industrial layout.
Construction of the bridge officially started on July 1, 2026. The total length of the line is approximately 46.8 kilometers, of which the cross-sea bridge is 12.4 kilometers long. Upon completion, it will become one of the largest cross-sea bridges in Latin America. Offshore engineering construction is inseparable from offshore engineering ships. The water depth of the main bridge pile foundation construction area is 64 meters. The underwater geological conditions are complex and the bridge construction technology is extremely difficult. The construction team specially built piling boats that can operate in water depths of up to 70 meters.
On September 27, the piling ship "Railway Construction Bridge Pile No. 1" was delivered from the factory in Nantong, Jiangsu; on September 29, the ship and four other engineering ships gathered at the Luhuashan Anchorage in Shanghai Port; starting from September 30, the "Smiling Angel" semi-submersible ship started semi-submersible operations at the Luhuashan Anchorage in Shanghai Port. With the assistance of tugs, the five engineering ships were successfully loaded onto the main deck of the semi-submersible ship, and then lashing, fixing, equipment testing and other work quickly started.
It is reported that border inspection, customs and other port inspection units work with ship owners, construction parties, and agents to study exit plans half a month in advance to ensure that ships, goods, and personnel leave the country in an economical, convenient, and efficient manner.
On October 1st, 28 crew members and 15 accompanying personnel on the five engineering ships left the anchorage in three batches. From October 2nd to 3rd, the semi-submersible ships completed crew change handovers in two batches. Yangshan Immigration Inspection and Yangshan Customs implemented the "joint inspection, one-time release" service crew convenience measures at Shanghai Port to ensure that more than 50 people embarking and disembarking from the ship efficiently boarded and disembarked the ship.
Wei Rongchun, captain of the second duty team at the Yangshan Border Inspection Station, said that the border inspection procedures involved flagged delivery, docking of foreign ships, verification of personnel on board, departure of engineering ships, departure of semi-submersible ships, crew changes, etc. The procedures were complicated, many batches were taken, and the intervals were long. Border inspection and port inspection units have set up special teams for docking and coordination to ensure the orderly connection of all links.
Chi Xiaonan, deputy section chief of the Ship Supervision Section of Yangshan Customs, said: “In accordance with the facilitation measures jointly announced by the three departments, the customs and border inspection carried out inspections simultaneously, implemented ‘joint inspection, one release’, and changed ‘multi-point sequential processing’ to ‘one-stop coordinated processing’. While maintaining the red line of supervision, it effectively reduced the burden of seafarers’ entry customs clearance and accelerated it.”
According to reports, according to the progress and demand of project construction, more engineering ships will go abroad to participate in the construction.
