Section E9 of submerged tunnels for the Island-tunnel project for Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macao Bridge was successfully laid in place at 3:00am on 24 February, 2014.

Section E9 of the submerged tunnel, which is 180 m long and weighs 80,000ton, is the first section of the submerged tunnel that was being towed afloat and installed with Floating Channel II – a semi-submersible barge that is designated to be used for project. The water depth at which the tunnel section was laid was as much as 40 m and the steel sealing doors had to sustain a water pressure of more than 10,000ton. When the tunnel section was being towed afloat, the semi-submersible barge had to sail through the temporary navigational channel and the main waterway in the Lingdingyang Bay, part of which are narrower, and there are densely anchored mooring lines and cables in the job site, making it more difficult to control the tunnel section while being towed afloat.

To ensure a safe shipment and installation of the submerged tunnel section and to minimize the influence upon the navigational channels, the General Management of Island-Tunnel Project of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge had a number of meetings with the Management of Project Division V to analyze and formulate solutions to any possible issues that might hinder the towing and installation of Section E9 of the submerged tunnel.

The whole process of towing and installation of Section E9 took 19 hours, which was completed 11 hours ahead of the schedule, thus shortening the time for closure of the navigational channels in the Lindingyang Bay by 2.5 hours and greatly reducing the traffic pressure in the navigational channels. ()