Rapid reclamation

Satellite imagery indicates that the first two dredgers arrived at the reef between 4 and 12 December 2025 accompanied by several roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels. Prior to their arrival, the only habitable area was located on the southeast tip of the reef. Initial reclamation efforts focused on the eastern section, immediately north of the existing installation, while construction crews developed a westward-extending causeway along the reef’s edge to support additional Ro-Ro offloading.

By early January 2026, land reclamation work accelerated as dredgers cut a channel through the shallow sandbars on the eastern side toward the reef’s center. By 17 January, dredger numbers had increased to 12 as they began collectively deepening the center, depositing sediment toward the outer edges, while workers built a causeway to the newly established eastern terrain. Additional land formations have begun to take shape along the reef’s western and northern edges and additional dredgers have arrived to support operations. 

Meanwhile, workers reconfigured the area around the existing installation to accommodate a concrete plant while crews erected pre-fabricated shelters likely to house the expanding workforce required to sustain the reef’s rapid transformation. Imagery throughout early February shows the creation and expansion of a secondary causeway running along the inside harbor, which likely serves as both a retaining barrier and logistics route while dredging continues. Additional shelters continue to be added and another likely concrete plant awaits to be unloaded.

Taken together, these developments suggest reclamation activity is intended to extend across the reef’s full length and will likely evolve into a multi-purpose outpost to enhance China’s military presence in the region.

As of 13 February, construction activities continue — cranes, dump trucks and earth moving equipment move about the reef reshaping the landscape while floating pipelines from 22 dredgers snake across the water’s surface toward the reclamation areas.

Selection of vessels observed at Antelope Reef

Solidifying the Great Wall of Sand

In February 2023, the Hainan provincial government announced a public tender to carry out an environmental capacity assessment (环境承载力评价) on Antelope Reef as well as Drummond Island and Observation Bank, indicating that planning to develop the reef may have started three years ago.

Over the past decade, Beijing has built and fielded the world’s largest fleet of advanced cutter suction dredgers. These vessels are designed to rapidly excavate seabeds and waterways, pumping underwater materials onto the surface to form the foundations of the maritime infrastructure for the country’s naval bases and military airfields.

An analysis of dozens of recent Chinese patent filings and reports indicate that Beijing is investing heavily in dredging technology, including the development of ultra-large vessels, AI and unmanned operations, deep-sea rake heads and real-time geological surveying. Some of these systems seek to utilise AI and big data to reconstruct underwater 3D topography in real-time, automatically identify soil types, and optimise dredging parameters (such as cutter speed and swing) without human intervention. 

Prior to 2013, the distance from the mainland and Hainan Island severely hindered Beijing’s ability to project power into the southern reaches of the South China Sea. That geographic constraint has since been mitigated by a decade of construction, replaced by an expansive network of airfields, deep-water ports, and advanced anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) batteries. The 2024 installation of counter-stealth synthetic impulse and aperture radar at Triton Island further solidified this defensive perimeter, likely targeting advanced U.S. air assets.

The rapid industrialisation of Antelope Reef is the latest chapter in this transformation of the regional security architecture. Coupled with the relentless drumbeat of military drills targeting Taiwan, this project signals that Beijing’s ambitions transcend local territorial friction. As long-range H-6 bombers and missile defense systems increasingly become permanent fixtures on the Paracel Islands, the "Great Wall of Sand" serves as another stark monument to China’s irredentist ambitions.

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