CCTV News: According to the Ministry of Transport,China, with the improvement of inland waterway capacity, China’s inland waterway freight volume exceeded 2 billion tons in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year increase of nearly 4%.
Inland waterway shipping serves as a crucial corridor connecting the east and west as well as the north and south. This year, China has accelerated the construction of inland waterways.
On the Jingjiang section of the Yangtze River’s main stream, underwater construction for the second phase of the waterway improvement project is underway. Although the Jingjiang section accounts for only one-eighth of the Yangtze’s main waterway, its winding path with 16 major bends, shallow waters, and numerous shoals often causes congestion for passing vessels, limiting navigation capacity. Once the waterway improvement project is completed by the end of this year, the water depth during the dry season will increase by more than 0.5 meters. Estimates show that for every 0.1-meter increase in water depth, a 5,000-ton cargo ship can carry an additional 150 tons of goods, boosting profits by about 12%.
This year, with accelerated progress on projects related to the Yangtze River, Xijiang River, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, China is expected to add 900 kilometers of high-grade waterways by the end of the year.
**Expanding River-Sea Direct Routes to Reduce Costs and Enhance Efficiency**
As China’s inland waterway network continues to improve, the country is vigorously developing river-sea direct and river-sea intermodal transport. By optimizing the intermodal systems along major routes like the Yangtze and Xijiang rivers, key intermodal ports are being developed, and branded shipping routes are being cultivated.
Data from the Ministry of Transport shows that last year, the river-sea intermodal transport volume on the Yangtze River’s main stream reached 1.56 billion tons, accounting for about 40% of the total freight volume on the route.
Recently, at the Laotangshan Phase V Terminal in Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, workers transferred fertilizer from the *Jianghai Zhida 13*—which arrived a week earlier from Nantong, Jiangsu—onto a foreign vessel bound for Brazil. The ship will then depart for the Dayushan Terminal in Zhoushan, about 45 kilometers away, to load over 10,000 tons of sulfur for transport to Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. This seamless unloading and reloading process has significantly improved the turnover speed of bulk commodities.
At the information center of the Zhoushan Port and Maritime Affairs Bureau, triangular icons representing river-sea direct ships densely mark the Yangtze River’s main stream and its estuary. Staff report that over 20 river-sea intermodal vessels dock and depart daily, keeping the routes busy. To date, Zhoushan has opened 10 river-sea direct routes with a fleet of 23 ships, forming the largest specialized river-sea direct fleet in the country. Data from the Zhoushan Port and Maritime Affairs Bureau shows that from January to June, the Zhoushan Pilot Free Trade Zone handled 2.56 million tons of cargo via river-sea direct transport, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%.
This year, the Zhoushan Pilot Free Trade Zone will expand its river-sea intermodal network to include inland rivers such as the Xiangjiang and Zishui, transforming the existing river-sea intermodal system into a river-sea-inland waterway intermodal system. This will provide inland cities with more efficient and cost-effective logistics channels for importing raw materials and exporting products.
