Abstract: In order to carry out the suggestion in the document (［2009］19) of the State Council that Shanghai should become an International Shipping Centre by 2020, and to adapt the development demand of larger scale ship and deeper water berth in the world shipping industry, it is urgently necessary to plan a new deeper water harbor in Shnaghai. By a deep-going study, we put forward that the Hengsha Shoal is the best place to construct a new harbor. It can not only avoid the influence of the river mouth bar and the turbidity maximum in the Yangtze Estuary, but also produce a lot of deeper dock shoreline larger than 20 m, to meet the sustained development demand of the Shanghai Harbor in the next 20-30 years, if the excavated-in harbor basin is built in the Hengsha Shoal. The unfavorable effect on the North Passage Deepwater Navigation Channel may be averted by optimizing design. The dredged sediment in the North Passage Deepwater Navigation Channel may be utilized for the siltation and reclamation of the Hengsha Shoal, and the excavation of harbor basin can supply nearby high quality soil source for the large reclamation, thereby saving the cost of reclamation of excavated-in harbor basin.

Key words: Hengsha Shoal, excavated-in harbor basin, planning ideas, key technology