On May 6, the reporter learned from the Changjiang River Administration of the Ministry of Transport (referred to as “CJRA”) that during the “May Day” holiday, no water traffic accidents occurred on the main line of the Yangtze River, water transport order was good, waterways were unobstructed, and the locks at the Three Gorges and Gezhouba Dams operated orderly. Among them, the passenger volume of inter-provincial cruise ships reached 26,300 people, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%; the volume of key materials such as energy and grain reached 16.36 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%, becoming a new highlight of holiday transport.
According to statistics from CJRA, from May 1 to 5, inter-provincial cruise ships on the main line of the Yangtze River completed a total of 84 voyages, a decrease of 5 voyages year-on-year, but passenger volume achieved rapid double-digit growth, with the cruise ship load rate reaching the highest level in the same period in history. Some cruise ships had “tickets hard to come by,” and market demand remained strong. During the holiday, the cargo volume entering and leaving ports on the Yangtze River was 62.91 million tons, including 1.91 million tons of grain, a year-on-year increase of 28.2%. The guarantee of key materials was strong, and the transport volume grew steadily.
Behind the growth in passenger flow is the support of a strict safety defense line. CJRA fully implemented the “3+4+N” major holiday prevention and control system, conducted in-depth hazard investigations before the holiday, and achieved dynamic elimination of major hazards. It deepened the “comprehensive lead + business promotion” working mechanism and implemented upgraded control over 493 major hazard sources. It carried out 100% safety inspections on passenger ships before they went into service, preventing “sick” operations, and conducted guarantee and stationing for 77 passenger-related enterprises, 86 passenger-related routes, 49 key waters, and 35 hazardous chemical concentration areas to ensure the safety of ship navigation.
During the holiday, CJRA made full use of intelligent management platforms, CCTV, drones, and other means to strengthen the dynamic tracking of passenger-related ships, and strengthened on-site supervision of passenger (ferry) transport and urban night cruise routes with high passenger flow, ensuring the ferry safety of 1.249 million passengers on the main line of the Yangtze River. Hazardous material enterprises implemented daily “zero reports,” open flame operations on hazardous material ships in port were prohibited, and 100% tracking and maintenance were carried out for key navigation sections. At the same time, CJRA closely monitored upstream water flow, strengthened inspections of navigation marks and bridge navigation aids, and arranged 18 dredging ships to station at 16 duty points. The Three Gorges locks strictly implemented lock passage safety inspections to ensure the safe passage of ships through the dam.
In response to possible severe weather such as strong winds and heavy fog during the holiday, CJRA observed on-site weather daily through CCTV and coordinated with the Yangtze River Basin Meteorological Center to forecast navigation weather. On May 3, strong winds occurred in the Jiangsu section. CJRA promptly initiated ship traffic control, implementing navigation restriction and suspension measures for container ships, small inland river ships, and passenger ferries affected by the strong winds to ensure safety. The entire system arranged over 4,100 staff, 513 ships and boats, and 293 drones for duty and standby, and coordinated 676 tugs, engineering ships, and other social emergency forces to be prepositioned in key waters, ready to participate in emergency response and disposal at any time.
In addition, CJRA simultaneously launched a “combined punch” of publicity and services. It planned and implemented safety publicity for the travel of the masses and the guarantee of smooth traffic on the main line of the Yangtze River during the “May Day” holiday, carried out online live broadcast services, set up 6 live broadcast points, invited 6 industry influencers, 6 mainstream news media, 23 new media accounts, etc. to participate, achieving significant results: the total network playback volume of the CJRA special session of the “May Day” holiday transportation all-media live broadcast reached 21.32 million person-times, and the number of likes reached 86,000 person-times. At the same time, it strengthened the operation services of the “Crew Home,” opened the “Three Gorges Navigation Hotline,” and promptly responded to the demands of ships waiting for locks.
All-media reporter Li Lu
