BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- China is building a mega waterway project to expand shipping capacity along the Yangtze River, betting that a smoother "golden waterway" will keep goods flowing along one of the world's busiest inland shipping routes and shore up the country's internal connectivity.
The Yangtze is China's longest river and a vital artery for freight between its inland and coastal regions. The Three Gorges Dam stands as a critical gateway for vessels passing along the river, but for years, rising cargo volumes have pushed its navigation facilities beyond their original design capacity.
The 77.2-billion-yuan (about 11.3 billion U.S. dollars) project, which broke ground on Monday, is expected to ease those constraints and accommodate growing freight demand in the decades ahead, officials and experts said on the latest episode of China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk show hosted by Xinhua News Agency.
It is also the first major national infrastructure scheme launched during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), underscoring the importance the country places on the Yangtze, which stretches over 6,300 km from the inland west to the eastern coast and anchors an economic belt spanning 11 provincial-level regions that together account for nearly half of national GDP.
A BOTTLENECK ON THE RIVER
The existing ship lock at the Three Gorges Dam surpassed its designed capacity of 100 million tonnes of annual cargo throughput in 2011, 19 years ahead of schedule.
"The navigation system has been under sustained pressure for many years," said Wang Hui, an official with the Ministry of Transport.
Wang said that freight traffic on the Yangtze is expected to continue to increase as the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt drives greater flows of goods between inland and coastal regions, underscoring the need for additional navigation capacity.
The project will add a five-tier, dual-track ship lock north of the existing lock at the Three Gorges Dam, and upgrade navigation facilities at the smaller downstream Gezhouba Dam.
Once completed, it will almost double the annual throughput capacity at the Three Gorges Dam to 336 million tonnes. The Gezhouba Dam will see its total capacity reach 360 million tonnes.
The project will create a resilient system featuring mutual backup, coordinated operation and classified vessel passage, significantly improving the efficiency and service quality of shipping along the Yangtze River. It will facilitate smoother and more efficient cargo transport in the river's middle and upper reaches while strengthening the capacity of the integrated transportation network along the river, said Gao Peng, deputy chief engineer of the China Three Gorges Corporation.
Analysts also note that the mega project helps reduce overall logistics costs across the economy as China accelerates its push toward green transformation.
"Academic studies indicate that carbon emissions per tonne-kilometer of water transport are about 50 percent of rail and 20 percent of road, bringing significant carbon-reduction benefits," said Niu Xinqiang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
A DECADE ON INNOVATION
Given the cramped site and tight engineering limits, building and upgrading the locks inside the existing Three Gorges and Gezhouba complexes is no easy task, said Zhang Yunchang, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources.
The scale explains why. The new locks must handle a water-level drop as tall as a 37-story building, and rock slopes rising some 200 meters. "Behind these numbers are engineering problems that grow exponentially," said Gao.
To meet them, engineers spent more than a decade developing new solutions with domestic research institutes, Niu noted. For example, the team built a new system to move water through the locks safely at high pressure, along with a 1,440-tonne "super gate."
The digging is also unprecedented. The project will move about 160 million cubic meters of rock and earth, Gao said. Crews will use advanced blasting techniques to operate precisely while minimizing the impact on nearby residents, the environment and aquatic ecosystems.
Technology will also run the finished waterway. "Three systems -- smart scheduling, smart channels, and smart locks -- will form an intelligent navigation system," said Wang, citing the role of big data in working out the best passage for each ship, high-precision maps and live monitoring in guiding vessels through, and digital sensors in flagging equipment faults before they happen.
A GATEWAY INLAND
Experts say the new project pairs investment in infrastructure with investment in people -- reflecting the country's policy priority of putting livelihoods at the center of its goals.
The Three Gorges new ship lock and its approach channels are scheduled for completion in 112 months, while the Gezhouba upgrade is planned to take 95 months, both of which include a 12-month preparation period.
Excavation and concrete work on this scale will draw heavily on bulk materials and heavy equipment, generating ripple effects across related industries throughout the supply chain and creating a large number of jobs, Zhang said.
The new channel will also smooth logistics, strengthen ports as cargo-consolidation hubs, and widen the region's access to trade, thereby reshaping inland shipping's openness to international markets, according to Wang.
"Goods arriving in southwest China's Chongqing on China-Europe freight trains from Europe and Central Asia can be seamlessly transferred to shipping along the Yangtze River, while international cargo from Southeast Asia and coastal areas will be able to move deeper into China's western hinterland via river-sea intermodal transport," Wang said.
Together, these links will turn interior cities into gateways connecting markets at home and abroad, he added. ■
