To maximize the utilization efficiency of ship lock maintenance funds and ensure that ship locks are maintained in sound technical condition,a scientific decision-making indicator system for the maintenance of inland waterway ship locks in Jiangsu Province is established based on the practical experience of construction,inspection and maintenance of inland waterway ship locks in the region.Specifically,12 primary indicators and 49 secondary indicators for the scientific decision-making of inland waterway ship locks maintenance in Jiangsu Province are screened and defined explicitly.Based on the results of questionnaire surveys,the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is adopted to comprehensively determine the weights of these indicators.On the basis of JTS 320-2-2018 Technical Specifications for Maintenance of Navigation Structures,the evaluation criteria of the indicators are optimized,with a focus on refining the quantitative descriptions of the technical status at all levels for the 49 secondary indicators.Furthermore,an innovative method for assessing the technical condition of ship locks is proposed,which integrates the “four-level single-item control indicators” with “hierarchical comprehensive evaluation”.This method provides a decision-making tool for the scientific formulation of annual maintenance plans for inland waterway ship locks in Jiangsu Province.Taking Xietai No.1 Ship Lock as a case study,the established scientific decision-making index system for ship lock maintenance is applied to grade the technical status of the ship lock based on its comprehensive inspection results in 2024.The outcomes are consistent with the inspection findings,which demonstrates that the index system has strong operability and can serve as a valuable reference for other provinces in conducting scientific decision-making regarding ship lock maintenance.