The Illegal Seaside Sand Trade

Honestly, I’d never realized that seawater sand could be used for smuggling—specifically from Taiwan to Lianyungang. The core reason this is possible lies in the regulatory loopholes and ambiguous oversight zones created by Taiwan not being fully unified with the mainland, which smugglers exploit through information asymmetry. A single dredging vessel can extract up to 14,000 tons of seawater sand, while a smuggling ship can carry as much as 74,000 tons. The profit margin from smuggling reaches around 700,000 RMB, with middlemen taking about 300,000 RMB. The cost per ton of seawater sand is over 40 RMB (typically broken down as 7 RMB for dredging, 7.5 RMB for the middleman, and 28.5 RMB for transportation). The final selling price ranges from 80 to 200 RMB per ton, representing pure profit.

Once smuggled, seawater sand is mainly used in two ways: mixed with inland sand to create construction materials for so-called “seawater sand houses,” or used in land reclamation projects (one particularly nauseating report claims that Taiwanese seawater sand was used for Hong Kong’s airport expansion, effectively turning foreign territory… ).

The Yangtze River Delta region is particularly vulnerable. If not handled properly, these seawater sand houses can develop serious structural problems. To cut costs, inadequate desalination treatments are applied, and the seawater sand is often misrepresented as river sand, meaning steel reinforcements aren’t given anti-corrosion protection. Within 7–10 years of occupancy, walls begin to corrode, steel bars degrade, and large cracks appear—leading to potential building collapses.

Original article: https://www.twreporter.org/a/china-dredging-business-supply-chain