Another link in Chinese chain

A new Chinese canal project should strengthen Wuhan’s role as a shipping hub in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, according to David Lammie of Yangtze Business Services.

The new project is a 67km-long canal from the mid section of the Yangtze River to a tributary that connects with the central route of the country’s major south-north water diversion project: at present there are three of these diversion projects planned for the country.

Connecting the Yangtze’s Jingjiang section to the Hanjiang River, the canal’s primary function is to divert water from the south to dry northern cities such as Beijing and Tianjin. However, its secondary function will be to improve shipping, and ports such as Wuhan will benefit from the new route.

Mr Lammie explained that China’s major waterways tend to run east to west, but this project, like the Grand Canal itself, will provide a north to south connection.

Once completed, the canal should have a depth of between 5m and 6m, allowing 1,000-ton ships to pass through and facilitating the transportation of coal from the north to the south, said Xu Shaojun, head of the Hubei Provincial Investigation and Design Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower.

Costing more than $870m (Rmb6bn) to construct, the diversion project is expected to be completed in 2014

Source: Port Strategy