The first phase of the Hainan Sanya International Cruise Port expansion is about 60 percent complete, and crews are now installing beams and deck slabs, according to Hainan provincial transport authorities and Sanya project sources. Overall completion is targeted for April.

The new berth is designed for ships of up to 100,000 tons, with a 365-meter quay and projected annual throughput of 420,000 passengers.

Once finished, it will expand Sanya’s cruise berthing and passenger-handling capacity. Provincial transport media said the berth would help ease a shortage of large cruise terminal facilities in Hainan, and officials described the project as a landmark facility for the Hainan Free Trade Port.

Sanya Port Group is leading the project as owner, while China Communications First Navigation Bureau Third Engineering Company is handling marine construction, according to Sanya CBD and municipal transport reports.

A late-August inspection report from the Sanya municipal transport authority said pile foundations for the main berth were complete and the project had moved into superstructure work.

Beam erection began August 27, Sanya media reported. After the bridge erection system was approved, crews used an overhead launching gantry to install prefabricated box girders and are now working on the upper structure.

Concrete pours on the approach bridges are complete, while rear-platform concrete, cast-in-place lower crossbeams and precast beam installation are underway. Provincial transport guidance calls for the lower crossbeams to be finished by the end of September.

The main berth structure is scheduled for completion by the end of December, with basin dredging and ancillary works proceeding in parallel.