Port & Waterway Dredging Price - Zhenjiang Yan Yang Engineering Co., Ltd.

Port and Waterway Dredging Engineering: Level 4 Condition Unit Price vs. General Maintenance Actual Winning Bid Unit Price

The following prices are for the domestic dredging market in China only; other international regions are not included.

I. Level 4 Condition Dredging Guided Unit Price

Unit Price Source: Construction Industry - "Guided Unit Prices for Port and Waterway Engineering (Dredging, Reclamation, Reef Blasting)"
Applicable Conditions: Level 4 condition, new deep-water harbor basin, dredging + reclamation, all-inclusive lump sum, including over-depth/over-width / haul distance / siltation / risk

The "Level 4 condition" commonly mentioned in the industry basically represents the worst construction condition for conventional port and waterway dredging (because Level 5 and 6 conditions usually belong to open ocean or extreme sea states, and conventional port and waterway projects rarely involve them).

Level 4 Condition Dredging Guided Unit Price Table

Note: The above unit prices are calculated based on a high-risk, all-inclusive lump sum model for new deep-water harbor basins.

For conventional maintenance dredging, this price has absolutely no reference value.

Next, let's talk about a few actual "maintenance dredging" winning bid unit prices (based on official data).

II. General Waterway / Terminal Maintenance Dredging Actual Project Unit Prices (Officially Verifiable)

Project 1: Yangtze River Estuary Waterway Maintenance Dredging (2026 Lots A/B)

Official Source: China Government Procurement Network, 2026-01-10 Bid Award Notice

Project Nature: Annual maintenance dredging for public waterways

Construction Vessels: Large Trailing Suction Hopper Dredgers (TSHD), Medium TSHD

Quantities: Lot A 18.2 million m³, Lot B 17.8 million m³

Winning Bid Unit Price: Dredging 4.16 CNY/m³, Reclamation 13.35 CNY/m³

Project Features: Annual waterway maintenance, massive construction volume, simple soil conditions, only maintaining navigable depth, not a new harbor basin, Yangtze Estuary

Condition: Level 1-2.

Project 2: Maintenance Dredging for the 300,000-ton Crude Oil Terminal in Xuwei Port Area, Lianyungang Port

Official Source: Jiangsu Public Resource Trading Platform, 2026-02-28

Project Nature: Maintenance desilting for a deep-water terminal

Construction Vessels: Self-propelled TSHD + Grab dredgers at the terminal front

Total Winning Bid Price: 10,870,981 CNY

Quantity: 487,300 m³

Comprehensive Unit Price: 22.31 CNY/m³

Project Features: Terminal maintenance, no new harbor basin, at most Level 3 condition. All-inclusive, no large-scale reclamation.

Level 2-3.

Project 3: Desilting of Zhenjiang Seagoing Vessel Anchorage

Official Source: Jiangsu Public Resource Trading Platform, 2026-01-11

Project Nature: Routine desilting of an inland river anchorage

Construction Vessels: Grab + TSHD

Winning Bid Unit Price: 11.1 CNY/m³

Project Features: Inland shallow water, simple desilting, no deep water, no reclamation, no high-level condition.

Condition: Level 1.

Project 4: Maintenance Dredging for the Channel of Guang'ao Port Area, Shantou Port

Official Source: Guangdong Public Resource Trading Platform, 2026-01-27

Quantity: 1.3987 million m³

Total Winning Bid Price: 22.0714 million CNY

Comprehensive Unit Price: 15.78 CNY/m³

Project Features: Waterway maintenance, simple condition, no requirements for a new harbor basin.

Condition: Level 2-3.

Note: Although unit prices for some inland river or small anchorage desilting projects fall in the 10-20 CNY range, they are not representative of large-scale waterway maintenance due to small quantities and a high proportion of vessel mobilization costs, so they are not used as the main comparison here.

III. Core Differences Between the Two Types of Unit Prices

Level 4 Condition Unit Price

Applicable to: New deep-water harbor basins, Level 4 condition, all-inclusive lump sum

Unit Price: 29.45 – 85.36 CNY/m³

Not applicable to: Waterway maintenance, terminal maintenance, inland river desilting

General Maintenance Unit Price

Source: National actual winning bid cases

Applicable to: Waterway, terminal, inland river maintenance

Unit Price: 4.16 – 22.31 CNY/m³

Actually, compared to the extreme port and waterway Level 4 condition, these jobs definitely have lower prices the easier they are to do. General maintenance projects cannot apply Level 4 condition unit prices, because the project nature, construction standards, and cost structures are completely different. Don't even think about referencing them, otherwise, you won't even get your foot in the door to win a bid.

Now let's talk about what exactly "Level 4 Condition" is?

Port and Waterway Dredging "Level 4 Condition"

1. Core Definition: Objective Impact Time Rate
According to the Ministry of Transport's Dredging Engineering Budget Quota (JTS/T 278-1—2019), the classification of condition levels is based on the "Objective Impact Time Rate."
Simply put, it is to calculate the percentage of time during the construction period when dredgers cannot work normally due to force majeure such as wind, waves, fog, currents, tides, and navigation interference.
Logic Chain: The higher the level number → the more interference → the lower the efficiency → the more expensive the unit price.

2. Level Classification: Port and waterway dredging hits the ceiling at Level 4. According to the Ministry of Transport's Dredging Engineering Budget Quota (JTS/T 278-1—2019) and industry practice:

Level 1-4: Inland rivers, port areas, waterways, well-sheltered harbor basins, conventional coastal engineering.

Level 5, 6: Completely open ocean, no shelter, extremely high waves, extremely frequent fog, extremely strong currents, extremely chaotic navigation.
Very few workable days in a year → Terminals will not be built in such places, nor will conventional dredging be conducted.
Either don't do it, or if you do, it's specialized marine engineering or special salvage, not ordinary port and waterway dredging.

According to the dredging engineering quota:

Level 1 condition: Almost no interference, vessels can work full time.

Level 2: Little interference.

Level 3: Moderate interference.
General port and waterway dredging, or maintenance dredging, is usually below Level 3.

Level 4: Significantly more interference, effective operating time per shift is eaten up a large chunk.

Level 5, 6: Even worse (like open ocean, typhoon zones).

Why do we talk about Level 4 condition unit price? For open sea and open deep-water harbor basins: Level 4 is the maximum used:

Level 5, 6 conditions: You generally won't encounter Level 5 or 6 dredging projects in port and waterway engineering, they are not representative.

Level 4 condition = Low construction efficiency. To excavate the same 1 cubic meter of mud, a vessel can work 10 hours under Level 1 condition, but under Level 4 it might only work 6-7 hours. → Vessel shift costs, labor costs, and fuel costs are all spread into the unit price, so the unit price is naturally high.

Level 4 condition = High risk. High winds and waves, rapid currents, poor visibility, easy to stop work, easy to have safety accidents. → The unit price includes a risk lump-sum fee.

The ceiling for port and waterway dredging conditions is Level 4.
Level 5 and 6 belong to marine engineering and open ocean engineering, which is not the same thing as the waterways, terminals, and harbor basins we usually do.