Beipanjiang Bridge, the world's highest bridge, has been officially opened to traffic. The bridge adopts 25,000 tons of steel structure. The most important and core part of this bridge, accounting for 24,000 tons, was exclusively built and supplied by Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Material Co., Ltd.

Located at the junction of the Beipanjiang Grand Canyon in Xuanwei, Yunnan Province, and Shuicheng, Guizhou Province, Beipanjiang Bridge is an important bridge project in the process of implementing the ‘One Belt and One Road’ strategy. It boasts a total length of 1,341.4m and a vertical height from the bridge floor to the ground of 565m, which is equivalent to the height of 200 storeys, making it the world's highest bridge. In addition, the main body of the bridge adopts a steel truss cable-stayed structure with a main span of 720m, ranking second among comparable bridges in the world.

Beipanjiang Bridge is located in a severe environment with dramatic mountains, vertical and horizontal valleys, complex geology and severe weather, and it has special requirements for weather resistance. Since the steel alloy element content of weather-resistant bridge steel is high, the welding manufacturing is difficult and the steel plate requirements for the low temperature toughness of the welded joints are high, such that only a few manufacturers can meet them. Weather-resistant bridge steel is not only an important development direction of bridge steel in foreign countries, but it also has good development prospects in China. Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Material Co., Ltd. started early and focused on the research and development of weather-resistant bridge steel as early as 2010, overcame numerous problems in terms of non-compatible overall performance and weathering, welding joint impact ≥ 41J at -40 ℃, lack of supporting welding technology, especially the effect of rust on the appearance of steel structure, and studied the surface stabilization technology of weather-resistant bridge structures under different environmental conditions. The produced weather-resistant bridge steel is widely used in weathering bridge projects in East Asia, South America, Western Europe and other areas. In February 2014, by virtue of its good performance, the Shougang Group and China Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge Group Co., Ltd. successfully won the bidding to manufacture the steel beams for the Beipanjiang Bridge Project.

Due to the special geographical location of Beipanjiang Bridge, it is necessary to have a higher safety factor for all the suppliers' materials, and the construction method for the bridge adopts the steel truss girder cable-stayed bridge method for the first time, i.e., steel truss girders of 12m in length and 160 tons in weight will be hoisted completely via cranes and other equipment after being assembled on the floor of the bridge site. Compared with the traditional air assembling process, the steel welding adaptability requirements are higher. In addition, in order to ensure accurate closure, the steel plate shape control and precision requirements are also very strict, posing a great challenge for the manufacturing of steel plates. In light of the service characteristics, particularity and complexity of the bridge, Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Material Co., Ltd. and the Technical Research Institute established a research group to carry out technical research, collect all kinds of ideas, repeatedly conduct tests and research in terms of steel plate performance, plate shape and welding adaptability, and overcome the low carbon and low yield ratio, steel plate shape, steel plate welding and corrected processing adaptability, tight delivery schedule and other manufacturing difficulties. The steel plate shape was made to meet the steel beam design and manufacturing requirements through a series of process control and finishing measures. The supplied low-carbon weld weathering bridge steel fully meets the construction demands and completes the supply task of steel plate material for the project, which was highly recognized by the well-known bridge enterprise China Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge Group Co., Ltd.