"Look at this drilling rig—its maximum drilling diameter reaches 7 meters, setting a world record at the time for the pile diameter of bored pile construction in bridge engineering. Its drilling depth exceeds 170 meters, and its overall weight is equivalent to nearly 400 cars, making it truly a 'giant' among rotary drilling rigs worldwide!" Flipping through the thick project manual, Zhu Zhenxin's fingertip stopped on a photo of a bridge construction site, his tone full of pride. In the photo, waves beat against the construction platform of the Xihoumen Road-Rail Dual-Purpose Sea-Crossing Bridge on the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway in Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, where the SWDM1280 rotary drilling rig stands rock-solid amid the wind and waves, carrying out drilling operations.

As the "throat" project of the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway, the No. 5 main tower pier of the Xihoumen Road-Rail Dual-Purpose Sea-Crossing Bridge must be rooted in waters 60 meters deep, where the seabed consists entirely of hard rock layers and the drilling depth needs to reach tens of meters—such construction conditions are known in the industry as "hell mode for pile foundation construction."

"Sea-crossing bridges, super-high-rise landmarks and other projects keep emerging, placing unprecedented demands on pile foundation construction—requiring deep drilling, large diameters, the ability to 'chew' through hard rock beds, and high efficiency," Zhu Zhenxin recalled. However, at the time, no equipment on the market could simultaneously meet all these requirements.

"Whatever is lacking, we build it!"

For many years, Sunward's R&D team had been holding onto this determination. The SWDM1280 rotary drilling rig with its "7-meter drilling diameter" finally came into being. When the first drilling at the Xihoumen Bridge succeeded, cheers erupted on site, and some quietly shed tears of excitement.

Sunward SWDM1280 rotary drilling rig under construction at the Xihoumen Road-Rail Dual-Purpose Sea-Crossing Bridge on the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway

With torrential currents and destroyed bridges and roads, in the face of danger, an amphibious excavator took the lead, coordinating with a rescue formation to reach the core area of the river breach and complete the sealing task—this was a scene from the "Emergency Mission 2025" new-quality rescue capability verification exercise for extreme disaster scenarios held in June this year. As the vanguard, Sunward's amphibious excavator crossed the torrential river without the aid of barges or pontoon bridges, sealing the breach while opening up a life channel for "isolated island rescue," once again demonstrating its hardcore strength.

From snowy plateaus to vast oceans, from traditional equipment to intelligent machinery, generations of Sunward people have used innovation as a ladder, completing the upgrade from traditional construction machinery to modern intelligent equipment, and the company has ranked among the global top 50 construction machinery manufacturers.