China Tests Floating Invasion Piers in New Drill as Taiwan Landing Plans Advance

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has conducted another exercise involving its floating pier barges, providing fresh insight into Beijing's efforts to improve amphibious logistics for a potential military operation against Taiwan.

On July 7, Shuiqiao-class landing pier utility (LPU) barges departed the Yuhuan naval pier and headed toward a beach in southern Fujian Province. Two days later, the vessels arrived at the new location and linked their Bailey bridge sections to form a temporary floating pier. On July 15, the barges separated, with Donggong 402 and Donggong 403 remaining in place while Donggong 401 repositioned to the port side.

PLA Tests Floating Piers Along Coastal Infrastructure

The exercise suggests that the PLA Navy is evaluating whether floating pier systems can be deployed alongside coastal highways and similar shoreline infrastructure. Such locations could serve as temporary beachheads during an amphibious operation, allowing troops, armored vehicles and military supplies to move ashore even where conventional port facilities are unavailable.

Expanding these capabilities forms part of the PLA's broader effort to improve large-scale amphibious landing operations. In a potential invasion scenario, Chinese forces would likely seek to exploit any captured section of coastline suitable for establishing temporary logistics hubs. Coastal highways could play an important role by supporting the rapid unloading of equipment from roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessels connected to floating piers.

Logistical Bottlenecks Could Limit Amphibious Operations

Despite the progress demonstrated during the exercise, the concept presents significant operational challenges. One of the most serious is the limited space available near temporary beachheads for staging vehicles, heavy equipment and military supplies after unloading. Congestion could quickly develop as equipment leaves RoRo ships, creating vulnerable choke points.

In a conflict, such bottlenecks could become attractive targets for Taiwanese and U.S. forces, which would likely attempt to destroy concentrated personnel, vehicles and supplies before they can move inland.

Engineers must also carefully match the height of coastal roads with the Bailey bridge sections used by the floating pier system. Although Shuiqiao barges can raise or lower themselves using adjustable support legs, operators still need to maintain an appropriate bridge angle to ensure the safe movement of vehicles and heavy equipment between ships and shore. If the angle becomes too steep or too shallow, unloading operations could slow significantly or become unsafe.

The exercise underscores both the PLA's growing investment in expeditionary logistics and the engineering and tactical challenges that remain before such systems could support sustained amphibious operations.