Abstract: In Document No.19 (2009) issued by the State Council, Shanghai was asked to be built into an international financial center as well as an international shipping center; the general goals of the latter center included: By 2020, Shanghai will have established an international shipping center with high concentration of maritime resources, sound shipping services, excellent shipping market environment, efficient modern logistics services, and good capacity to allocate global shipping resources. It will become an international shipping hub with Shanghai as the center, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces as the wings, the Yangtze River Basin as the hinterland, and with reasonable functional allocations and close collaborations with the other ports in China. A modern port will be formed with a large-scale, intensive, efficient and optimized collecting and distributing system. In combination with the international aviation hub in Shanghai, an integrated multiple transportation mode will be established. A modern shipping service system will come true with excellent services and full functions, in order to create a convenient, efficient, safe and lawful port environment as well as a modern international shipping service environment, to enhance the ability of integrating international shipping resources and to improve the comprehensive competitiveness and service ability.
In the last decade, both the cargo throughput and the container throughput in the Shanghai Port have rocketed up to the first place in the world, thanks to the construction and availability of the Yangtze Estuary’s 12.5 m Deepwater Channel and the Yangshan Deepwater Port. 
Now, however, the Shanghai Port is facing new severe difficulties, as a consequence of the rapid development of the social economy in China, in realization of the goal to build up an international shipping center by 2020 as required by the State Council. At present, the throughput capacity of the Port has been fully used，and the deep water coastline along the Yangtze River Estuary has been used up; while other big ports in the world, such as Singapore harbor, Busan port and so on, are developing quickly. Without any deeper water berths to dock 18,000 boxes of ultra large container ships, more than 300,000 tons of super large ore carriers and supertankers, it is very difficult for the Shanghai Port to adapt to the world trend of increasing ship size in the future, and thus might lose its competitiveness as well as its status as the largest international hub port in the world. In addition, with the rapid development of the economy in the Yangtze River Delta and the Yangtze River Basin，the total amount of the transportation in these areas is increasing and will continue to increase year by year, causing the increase of the freight volumes which might soon exceed the limit that the Shanghai Port can handle.
So it is urgent for Shanghai to exploit new port area. A number of 200,000 to 300,000 tons, up to 500,000 tons of super large deep water berths should be built, in order to improve the sea-river joint transportation conditions, to enhance the function of Shanghai international shipping center, and for the center to play a better role in the social and economic development in the Yangtze River Delta and the Yangtze River Basin.
In early 2011, Mr. Mo Gui, former vice president of the Shanghai Tongsheng Group and the former commandant of the Yangshan Port, together with Mr. Rong-shun Shao, the emeritus chief engineer consultant of the Yangshan Port, came to our Institute and suggested us to carry out the research on new port area planning. The State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research (SKLEC), East China Normal University, paid much attention to this suggestion, and organized a special group to fully support the study on the urgent need from the State and Shanghai. The Laboratory provided financial support for this special project, and further strengthened the cooperation with the CCCC Third Harbor Consultants, so that the advantages of both SKLEC and the CCCC Third Harbor Consultants can be fully taken. The first version of the research report on the planning scheme of building an excavated-in harbor basin in the Hengsha Shoal and constructing an artificial island of Yangtze Estuary was drafted up in May 2012. The second draft was completed in August 2012,  and was forwarded to prestigious academicians and experts from the domestic transportation, ports, and coastal engineering sectors for advices. In September 2012, the experts from the Yangtze Estuary Waterway Administration of the Ministry of transportation, the East China Sea Branch of the State Oceanic Administration, Shanghai water authority and CCCC Third Harbor Consultants were invited to give their suggestions on the second draft. The academicians and experts in this area confirmed our research work, and highly supported the planning scheme of building an excavated-in harbor basin in the Hengsha shoal of the Yangtze Estuary; and they also put forward many valuable comments and suggestions.
We improved the research report according to the expert advices and suggestions, including further explaining the reasons why to choose Hengsha shoal as a new harbor site, calculating the siltation of excavated-in harbor basin and channel by use of different siltation formulas, estimating siltation for the harbor and waterway during typhoon weather, evaluating the earthwork for the excavated-in harbor basin and roughly analyzing the possible impacts of the planned construction on the ecological environment. The artificial island plan was removed from the study report in order to focus on the excavated-in harbor basin planning. In addition, the research team visited Tangshan Jingtang Port and learned the experiences and lessons in the construction process of excavated-in harbor basin. The final research report was completed in October, 2012. The prestigious experts in this area were invited to attend the review meeting for the report held in November 10, 2012, Shanghai. The experts agreed that it is quite necessary and urgent to expedite the study of a large-scale multipurpose new port plan which can meet the requirements of international container hub port and of international logistics center with the sea-river joint transportation, according to the development requirement of the Shanghai Port and international shipping center. It is entirely possible to build an excavated-in deep water port in the Hengsha shoal without major technical constraints from the construction experiences of similar ports home and abroad. The present excavated-in harbor basin plan may be taken as the preferred scheme. The study results in this phase are scientifically and practically sound, which can be used as the basis for the relevant planning sectors to make new port decisions.
In order to demonstrate our research results, the main content in the final research report is published as a special issue in the Journal of East China Normal University (Natural Science). We wish to get active responses and comments or suggestions from research fellows, and expect more attention from relevant administrative sectors so as to make greater contribution for the early realization of the Shanghai international shipping center.
Much thanks to Mr. Mo Gui, the former vice president of the Shanghai Tongsheng Group and the former commandant of the Yangshan Port, and the leaders of CCCC Third Harbor Consultants, who provided valuable advices and supports for the research. We are grateful to the SKLEC in East China Normal University, which provided financial supports to the research. A group of retired professors and senior chief engineers, as well as young scientists are greatly appreciated for their hard work and selfless contributions.