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Description

In July and August 2025, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) employed a unique type of civilian deck cargo ship known as a Landing Craft Tank (LCT) to transport military vehicles directly to shore as part of an amphibious landing exercise. While civilian deck cargo ships of this type have been observed in previous PLA over-the-shore logistics exercises, they had only been used to transport vehicles and equipment from port-to-port—simulating the transport of forces into a captured port—not directly to an unimproved beachhead. If the PLA develops the ability to coordinate and employ significant numbers of civilian LCTs to transport forces directly onto Taiwan beaches, it could significantly improve its over the-shore assault capacities and logistics capabilities.

CMSI’s Perspectives and Key Takeaways

  • Experimentation with civilian LCTs in direct beach landings is the latest innovation in the PLA’s attempts to identify and train to the optimal combination of military and civilian amphibious assault and over-the-shore logistics capabilities.
  • Based on satellite imagery observations, there are two main types of LCTs used in PLA exercises: a smaller, stern deckhouse version; and a larger, forward deckhouse variant—both with open cargo decks.
  • LCTs may offer the PLA a type of over-the-shore lift that fills a gap between when a first echelon amphibious assault hits the beach and when the PLA might be able to capture and use a Taiwanese port or erect floating causeways or Shuiqiao Landing Platform Utility (LPU) vessels at a beachhead. Landing LCTs onto a beach would allow for immediate support from non swimming logistics elements of the first echelon forces—such as trucks and heavier non amphibious armored vehicles.

Publication Date

1-7-2026

Publisher

China Maritime Studies Institute, U.S Naval War College

City

Newport, Rhode Island

Keywords

China, China Maritime Studies Institute, CMSI, People’s Liberation Army, People’s Liberation Army Navy, PLAN, Landing Craft, LCT, Amphibious

CMSI Note 18: Flooding the Zone: The Use of Civilian Landing Craft (LCTs) in PLA Amphibious Operations

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