The reporter learned from the Guangdong Provincial Communications Group that the E32 ultra-wide variable-width tube element of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link has completed a full-scale float-out drill and is expected to be immersed and installed on the east side of the link in August. It is reported that the E32 element, which will connect with the cofferdam section at the head of the East Artificial Island, is the first non-standard element of the immersed tube tunnel.

According to the introduction, the E32 element, as an ultra-wide variable-width curved immersed tube element, has a structural length of more than 120 meters, with its structural width tapering from 53.6 meters to 55.46 meters, and its widest point can accommodate 10 lanes in both directions. In this full-scale drill, the E32 element was floated from the Guangzhou Nansha Longxue Island shipyard to Guangzhou Port and then returned along the same route, with a one-way total distance of 6.072 kilometers (3.28 nautical miles). The project department organized the vessel fleet to carry out multiple drill subjects as planned, including the element entering and exiting the harbor basin, a 180-degree turning maneuver, cross-current float-out, simulated mooring at the tunnel site, float-out along the channel, and tow-back. Facing the complex and narrow drill area, the tugboat formation maneuvered precisely like "threading a needle," especially completing the entry and exit of the harbor basin along its central axis with a deviation of no more than 5 meters, and completing the simulated mooring at the tunnel site with only four tugboats within a range of just 10 meters fore, aft, port and starboard, greatly setting a new record for the maneuvering precision of the tugboat formation.