Mitsubishi Heavy Industries receives order from China

Emerging Markets Economy, Jul 6, 2004

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. has received an order to supply two earth pressure balanced (EPB) shield tunneling machines to China Construction First Group Ltd., a Beijing-based major construction affiliate of the Chinese government, for tunnel construction for a new subway line in the capital city.

The machines, each having a diameter of 6.14 meters, are slated for delivery in mid-January 2005. The order brings the total number of shield tunneling machines purchased from MHI by China to 29. MHI ranks first among Japanese suppliers to China in terms of volume of orders for machines of this kind. To date, applications have mainly involved tunneling in Shanghai and Guangdong province; this marks the first order for MHI's equipment to be used in Beijing.

The machines will be used for tunnel construction along the Beijing Metro Line No. 4 planned to link Majiapu and Beigongmen. This large-scale project is managed by Beijing Mtr Construction Administration Corp. The line is slated to commence operation in 2008, the year of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

A shield tunneling machine is a large cylindrical-shaped machine used for underground tunneling. It excavates by rotation of an excavation face shield, a circular cutter head equipped with hard metal cutter bits.

China's tunneling machine market is extremely buoyant in the runup to the Beijing Olympics, with large-scale metro projects planned not only in the capital city but also in Shanghai, Wuhan and Chengdu, and tunnels for motor road as well. Based on the newly achieved foothold in Beijing, MHI aims to further intensify its marketing activities for tunneling machines in the Chinese market.