Eyeing massive new shipping facilities near the Three Gorges dam, China has formally begun construction on an ambitious project to enable the passage of larger vessels and streamline logistics along the nation’s most critical waterway.
The centrepiece of the planned 77.2 billion yuan (US$11.4 billion) infrastructure buildout, which looks to span nearly a decade, is a series of mega ship locks – colossal structures also known as “water elevators” or “water staircases” that are built into a dam.
After several years of feasibility studies and design work, the signature project was included in China’s 15th five-year plan (2026-2030) and looks to be a cornerstone of Beijing’s strategy to transform Asia’s longest waterway – the Yangtze River, which the Three Gorges spans – into a high-capacity shipping conduit.
Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony marked the next step in an effort to improve links between several megalopolises as the world’s second-biggest economy seeks to shore up internal connectivity to sustain growth.
The project is considered the biggest infrastructure undertaking along the Yangtze in decades, eclipsing the scale of previous works since the river was dammed in 1997 for flood control and hydropower. Its urgency stems from surging shipping demand that has overwhelmed existing facilities built in 2003.
“The old Three Gorges locks and ship lift have become a chokepoint,” officials with the Ministry of Transport were quoted as saying by Xinhua. “Even the boldest planning [decades ago] failed to anticipate the huge rise in passengers and cargo flows along the Yangtze today.”
The Three Gorges Dam has significantly improved Yangtze’s navigation conditions, spurring a concentration of industrial clusters along the 6,300km (3,915-mile) waterway. Shipping volume has steadily climbed between dominant urban centres, from Chongqing in the nation’s southwest through Wuhan in central China, to the coastal eastern powerhouses of Nanjing and Shanghai in the affluent Yangtze River Delta, where the river empties into the East China Sea.
Cargo volume passing through the existing locks first exceeded the 100 million-tonne design capacity in 2011. By 2025, annual throughput at the dam had reached 173 million tonnes.
The capacity constraint risks stalling Beijing’s strategic blueprint for urbanisation and industrial integration across the Yangtze basin, which links coastal powerhouse regions to central and western provinces. As manufacturers along the river increasingly rely on the waterway to ship components and finished products, and as river cruising gains popularity, the old locks have long struggled to keep pace.
The technical core of the new megaproject is a new channel featuring 6,680-metre-long (22,000-foot) two-way, five-stage, staircase ship locks. The project will also involve expanding upstream and downstream approach channels and supporting locks.
When completed, 10,000-tonne-class vessels – considered very large river-going ships – will be able to navigate the dam swiftly, boosting annual throughput capacity to 336 million tonnes, or roughly double the current level, while further reducing logistics costs.
The engineering challenge is reflected in the construction’s duration – estimated at 112 months, or 9.3 years.
Liu Weiping, president of the state-owned Three Gorges Group, the operator of the dam and future locks, was quoted by Xinhua as saying the economic dividends will extend well beyond shipping.
“The project will significantly improve efficiency for the implementation of the Yangtze River Economic Belt development strategy and support domestic economic circulation,” Liu said. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
