Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-01-15 Origin: Site
Facing a complex and severe external environment, China’s global merchandise trade volume has achieved a counter-trend growth. At the press conference held by the State Council Information Office on January 14, the General Administration of Customs released data showing that China’s foreign trade import and export volume reached 45.47 trillion yuan in 2025, an increase of 3.8%. The scale hit a new historical high, and China maintained its position as the world's largest merchandise trader.
This achievement is inseparable from China's continuous investment in port construction. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the number of berths with a capacity of 10,000 tons and above in China's ports increased by 379, bringing the total to 2,971. The navigable mileage of high-grade waterways rose by 1,600 kilometers, with the total length reaching 17,600 kilometers. At present, China's ports have established shipping route connections with more than 200 countries and regions, maintaining a leading position globally in terms of maritime connectivity.
Take Nantong Port in Jiangsu Province as an example. As the only port in Jiangsu that integrates both river and seaport functions, Nantong Port, leveraging its unique geographical advantage of being a convergence point of rivers and seas, has built Jiangsu's first fully automated container terminal at the Lüsi Operation Area. It has become an important support for the layout of port-vicinity industries in Nantong City, opening up new outbound routes for connecting with the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.
At present, the Project of Berth No.12 Terminal in Lüsi Operation Area (hereinafter referred to as the "Berth No.12 Terminal Project") is under accelerated construction. Designed to be a 100,000-ton general-purpose berth, the project includes the construction of the terminal, approach bridge, harbor basin and supporting storage yard, with a designed annual throughput of 1 million tons. It aims to build a modern and high-efficiency port logistics network.
Among them, the underground pipe network, regarded as the lifeline of port infrastructure, undertakes key tasks such as water supply, drainage, energy transmission and information exchange, thus imposing extremely high requirements on the quality and construction reliability of engineering pipelines. Against this backdrop, ERA HMPP polypropylene wound structural wall pipes (Type B) have stood out with their outstanding performance and become the core pipelines of the drainage pipe network system for this project. A professional technical team has been stationed on-site to assist the construction unit in overcoming a number of technical difficulties, ensuring the efficient and accurate laying of the pipe network system.
As we all know, port drainage actually faces two major challenges. First, heavy load pressure: the bearing weight of cargo yards, the shuttling of container trucks, the operational pressure of gantry cranes... These loads of dozens or even hundreds of tons are directly transmitted to the underground pipe network. Second, complex port geology: affected by seawater erosion and sedimentation, the geological structure is distributed from top to bottom with alternating "soft and hard" layers such as silty fine sand, silty soil, silty sand, silty sand interbedded with muddy silty clay, and muddy silty clay mixed with sand.
This requires supporting engineering pipeline products to not only withstand high-pressure extrusion, but also have strong adaptability to different geological conditions and resist pipe wall damage caused by rock stratum friction. At this point, ERA HMPP pipes show remarkable advantages. With an elastic modulus of ≥ 1500 MPa, twice that of HDPE, they feature high compressive strength, excellent settlement resistance and good flexibility, and are not prone to deformation under heavy pressure. Even in geological conditions where muddy silty clay layers and gravel layers are alternately distributed, they can still maintain a stable structural form, effectively avoiding interface dislocation caused by uneven settlement.
However, the safe operation of port drainage depends not only on structural strength, but also on absolutely reliable sealing performance. Fully aware of this, ERA HMPP pipes adopt a dual-protection jointing method to eliminate leakage risks from the source. On the one hand, the flexible socket-and-spigot joint with sealing gaskets can effectively adjust the uneven gap of sockets and spigots caused by the self-weight of large-diameter pipes. Meanwhile, welding technology is applied for fixation to firmly lock the entire joint, forming a rigid sealed structure that significantly enhances the joint tightness. On the other hand, after the pipe installation is completed, a strict water tightness test will be carried out. Only when no leakage is detected through the hydraulic pressure test simulating the actual service environment can the pipes be deemed accepted.
In addition, in port areas prone to extreme weather, the emergency drainage capacity and temperature resistance of the drainage system are particularly critical. Take Nantong City, Jiangsu Province as an example: this area is a high-incidence zone for storm surges, which are characterized by their sudden onset, rapid speed, high intensity and severe destructive power, often accompanied by drastic temperature changes and intense rainstorms. According to statistics, rainstorms with a daily rainfall of ≥ 50 millimeters occur in over 90% of the years in this region, with an average of about 2.7 rainstorm days per year; between 2018 and 2023, the area was affected by typhoons as many as 19 times. During storm surges and typhoons, poor drainage can easily lead to waterlogging at terminals and submersion of equipment, seriously affecting port operations and navigation safety.
Faced with the challenges of extreme environments, ERA HMPP pipes demonstrate two core advantages:First, the super-large diameter design. The maximum diameter of such pipes can reach 4 meters, and the 2.4-meter-diameter pipes are adopted in this project. With smooth and flat inner walls, the pipes feature an extremely low flow resistance coefficient. This means that under the same flow rate conditions, water flows faster and the drainage efficiency of rainwaterlogging is higher, effectively addressing the waterlogging risks caused by storm surges. This is only the first trial of Gongyuan's products. In the future, with the R&D and application of larger-diameter products, the company will provide more robust drainage guarantees for more ports.
Second, the superior corrosion resistance and temperature resistance. Made of polypropylene, ERA HMPP pipes outperform traditional pipes such as HDPE and PVC in resisting chemical corrosion from circulating media, and can withstand the scouring and corrosion of suspended solids in rainwater. Meanwhile, thanks to the inherent wide temperature tolerance range of PP, ERA HMPP pipes can maintain stable performance without deformation in temperatures ranging from -20℃ to 90℃, whether exposed to scorching summer heat or freezing winter cold waves.
Such large-scale engineering pipelines have extremely high requirements for precision, quality and construction, and also entail enormous production difficulties. The strong R&D capability, intelligent manufacturing strength and innovation capacity of ERA Co., Ltd. are the solid foundation for its success.
ERA has established ten production bases worldwide and built eighteen digital and intelligent factories. It also boasts a number of innovation platforms including a Postdoctoral Research Workstation, an Enterprise Technology Center, a provincial-level Key Enterprise Research Institute, and a CNAS-accredited Laboratory. These platforms not only provide robust support for the R&D of engineering pipeline products, but also lay a solid foundation for technological innovation and the development of the pipeline brand.
By the end of 2025, the Group had accumulated more than 850 national and international patents, and had led or participated in the formulation and revision of 139 national (industrial) and international standards.
At present, from port construction to livelihood projects, ERA Pipes have provided critical support for numerous projects across China, including Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, the southern mining area of Turpan in Xinjiang, Dachen Island, Jianshui County of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, the comprehensive surface water irrigation project of the water network in Weixian County of Hebei, Shanghai Oriental Hub, and Shanghai LEGOLAND® Resort. These practices have fully verified that ERA Pipes meet world-class standards and boast excellent engineering adaptability, and further provide efficient, durable and cost-effective pipeline solutions for water, electricity, gas and ventilation networks to support China’s new urbanization drive and the upgrading of major infrastructure.
China is composing a new chapter in the high-quality development of ports as it advances from a major maritime nation to a maritime power. On this journey, it not only requires the planning and guidance of macro policies, but also relies on national enterprises like ERA Co., Ltd. that adhere to technology-driven innovation and safeguard port projects with high-quality products. The two parties are forming a powerful synergy, propelling China’s ports to play a greater role in consolidating the domestic circulation and smoothing the dual circulation of domestic and international economies with a more stable posture.