Shipping hubs are critical nodes in the modern canal system. However, their mass concrete structures face severe cracking and durability issues under complex service environments, which directly impact the structural safety and long-term service life of the projects. This paper systematically reviews the research status, development trends, and technical challenges of mass concrete in shipping hubs, centering on the theme of “Efficient, Safe, and Long-life Design of Canal Waterways and Navigation Structures”. It distills the core scientific issues of cracking prevention and long-life design. The paper proposes technical pathways to enhance the crack resistance and durability of concrete under complex service conditions and explores the application prospects of big data and artificial intelligence technologies in the innovative design and performance optimization of concrete materials. This aims to contribute to achieving the national “dual carbon” goals and the long-life development strategy of infrastructure.

Modern canals integrate multi-functional needs such as shipping, flood control, water supply, irrigation, ecology, and tourism. There are many challenges in construction and operation, such as out-of-balance water and sediment transport, regional water security, ecological environment protection, long-life safety of structures, and low carbon. The need for China’s modern canal construction is increasingly urgent. However, the relevant fundamental research is relatively weak. The key theories and technologies of green construction and operation have yet to be broken through, and there is an urgent need to build systematic theories for synergistic regulation of safety and low carbon during the whole life of the canal project. Based on the discussion on the 362nd Shuangqing Forum of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), this paper reviews the development history of artificial canals and the research status of modern canal engineering, puts forward the core connotation of modern canal engineering, summarizes the key technical problems faced by the green construction and operation for modern canal engineering in China, condenses the major scientific issues that need to be paid attention to and solved in the next 5-10 years for green construction and operation of modern canal engineering, and discusses the frontier research direction and the strategy of science funding in the related fields, which have important guiding significance for enabling the construction of large-scale cross-water canal projects in China.