China to spend US$29 billion upgrading navigation on the Yangtze

CHINA has commenced dredging an inland river channel in Hubei, Guangxi and Jiangsu provinces, part of China State Council's five-year plan to enhance the navigation on the Yangtze and its tributaries, reports Xinhua.


The plan calls for a smooth, efficient, safe, inland waterway system over 10 years, and increased throughput to 1.3 billion tonnes through river ports by 2015.


By 2020, the freight volume of national inland waterways is expected to reach 30 million tonnes moving over 19,000 kilometres with an average ship tonnage of 2,000 tonnes. By 2015, China will dredge 13,000 kilometres of first class channels and upgrade 70 per cent of existing waterways to meet targets, involving and expenditure of CNY200 billion (US$29 billion) over five years.


In the past five years, China has improved and dredged 4,181 kilometres of river channels to make a total 124,000 kilometre navigable. River port throughput stood at 1.38 billion tonnes in 2010, growing 22 per cent over 2009, making the Yangtze the world's busiest shipping river.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)