Industry Spotlight · Water Conservancy Equipment | May 2026
Two 2×2500KN trolley hoists from Henan Weihua pass field acceptance testing at the Madao Hub on the Pinglu Canal — marking another landmark delivery for China’s most ambitious waterway infrastructure project in generations.
| Specification | Detail |
| Hoist capacity | 2×2500 KN |
| Trolley span | 52 meters |
| Total canal length | 134.2 km |
| Vessel tonnage capacity | 5,000-ton class |
| Total project investment | ~72.7 billion RMB |
Two large-scale trolley hoists independently developed and manufactured by Weihua Heavy Machinery have successfully passed operational acceptance testing at the Madao Hub on the Pinglu Canal in Guangxi, and have been formally handed over to the project owner. The equipment will serve as the core gate-control system for China’s first new artificial canal linking inland rivers to the sea since the founding of the People’s Republic.
The Madao Hub: Throat of the Century Canal
The Pinglu Canal has been called the “Century Canal” — a 134.2-kilometer artificial waterway connecting the Xijiang River system to the Beibu Gulf, capable of accommodating 5,000-ton ocean-going vessels in direct river-to-sea navigation. With a total investment of approximately 72.7 billion RMB, the project will fundamentally reshape freight logistics corridors across Southwest China and strengthen the region’s connections to coastal and international trade routes.
Within this undertaking, the Madao Hub holds a position of singular importance. As the first-tier hub on the entire canal, it is the largest in construction scale, the most complex in technical requirements, and the highest in investment along the full alignment. Its completion directly governs the timeline for the canal’s opening to navigation — earning it the designation of the project’s “throat works.”
It is precisely at this critical node that Weihua Heavy Machinery was entrusted with the manufacture of core mechanical equipment.
What Weihua Heavy Machinery Delivered
Weihua’s scope at the Madao Hub spans the full range of gate-control and lifting equipment required for both lock operation and flood discharge:
- Upper and lower lock head hoists: 2×2500 KN trolley-type hoists (the units now formally accepted)
- Upper lock head flood-discharge gantry crane: 2×400 KN dam-top portal crane
- Fixed winches: 16 units for lock maintenance operations
Among these, the trolley-type maintenance hoists — rated at 2×1250 kN and 2×2500 kN respectively — both achieve a span of 52 meters, making them the largest-span trolley hoists of equivalent tonnage class manufactured in China.
Engineering Innovation Behind the Equipment
The 2×2500 KN trolley hoist is not a standard catalog product scaled up for a larger load. Weihua’s development process represents a deliberate shift in how heavy hoisting equipment is engineered for critical infrastructure.
Fully enclosed hoisting drive train The lifting mechanism uses a fully enclosed transmission design that protects drive components from the humid, high-load cycling environment typical of canal lock operations, extending service life and reducing maintenance intervals.
Digital design methodology Rather than following the conventional “drafting – prototype – testing” cycle rooted in empirical engineering experience, Weihua applied a three-dimensional modeling and finite element analysis workflow throughout development. This shifts the validation process upstream — problems are identified and resolved during virtual simulation before any physical fabrication begins. The result is a design that is simultaneously safer, more reliable, more stable, and more economical than what traditional methods would produce at this scale.
This approach — combining rigorous structural simulation with precision manufacturing — reflects the standard Weihua Heavy Machinery applies to equipment destined for China’s most demanding civil infrastructure environments.
A Record That Carries Weight
The 52-meter span achieved on both the 2×1250 kN and 2×2500 kN trolley hoists is not incidental. Span is one of the most constraining parameters in trolley hoist design: as span increases, structural deflection, dynamic load distribution, and rail-alignment tolerances all become significantly harder to control. Achieving China’s largest span at this tonnage class required the full integration of Weihua’s structural engineering capabilities with its manufacturing precision.
“The Madao Hub hoists represent the largest-span trolley hoists of their tonnage class manufactured in China — a specification reached through digital engineering, not incremental scaling.”
Continuing a Legacy in National Water Infrastructure
The Pinglu Canal delivery adds a significant chapter to Weihua Heavy Machinery’s record of service on China’s defining water infrastructure projects. The company has previously supplied critical lifting and gate-control equipment for the Three Gorges Project and the South-to-North Water Diversion Project — two of the most consequential water engineering undertakings in the country’s history.
Each of those assignments placed Weihua equipment at the operational heart of infrastructure where reliability is non-negotiable. The same standard applies at Madao: a single equipment failure at the canal’s first-tier hub would have direct consequences for navigation across the entire 134.2-kilometer alignment.
The successful acceptance of the 2×2500 KN trolley hoists confirms that Weihua’s systems meet that standard.
About Weihua Heavy Machinery
Weihua Heavy Machinery (Henan Weihua Group Co., Ltd.) is a leading manufacturer of industrial lifting and hoisting equipment headquartered in Changyuan City, Henan Province, China. The company’s product range covers overhead cranes, gantry cranes, port cranes, EOT cranes, special-purpose cranes, and electric hoists, serving clients across hydropower, port logistics, steel manufacturing, wind energy, railway, and marine sectors.
Operating under the principle of “Customer First, Value Creation,” Weihua applies advanced digital engineering methodologies and precision manufacturing to deliver equipment for China’s most demanding infrastructure environments.
Learn more at henanweihua.com
The Pinglu Canal is scheduled to open to navigation in 2026. The Madao Hub, as the first-tier control structure on the alignment, is a prerequisite for full-canal commissioning.
