Abstract: In order to relieve the navigation pressure caused by the single lane operation of the TGP ship lock during its completion period, the authors put forward two innovatire assumptions:one is to adopt the four-step operation mode instead of the five-step operation mode under water level 156.0 m, and the other is to change the vessels′ waiting location from dolphins to the 1st chamber. Based on theoretical analyses, prototype debugging and full scale ship tests, the key technical problems of the super design head operation under four-step mode and the safety of berthing in the 1st chamber are all well solved by optimizing the conveyance mode of each lock head;the fluctuation characteristic in the 1st chamber and the relationship between it and the berthing vessel′s mooring force are also clarified;and the adequate scheduling scheme considering the above results is put forward finally. The actual operation indicates that the above measures have greatly improved the traffic capacity of the TGP ship lock and achieved remarkable economic and social benefits during the completion period.