Along the Yangtze River: New ships help expedite river traffic toward ocean

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The Yangtze River runs through some of China's most economically strong regions. But reaching the ocean from some of those areas has always been difficult. Now a major breakthrough on the shipping front may change that. CGTN's Ning Hong explains.  

Along the coast of China's Zhejiang province, ports are docked with bulk cargo ships, carrying raw materials. The largest dock can accommodate a 400 thousand--dwt vessel.  

NING HONG ZHOUSHAN, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE Ships from across the world are unloading millions of tons of iron ore on this port. It is vital to China's economy. And now this is also a node that connects the ocean with Yangtze river.  

From here, the iron ore and other goods are loaded onto smaller ships, then shipped to cities upstream along the Yangtze river. Until now, this process needed to be done multiple times, as most ocean cargo ships are too large to navigate the river. To solve the problem, designers just rolled out a modern, new ship. One that can go directly from the ocean to ports upstream.

LYU BING PROJECT MANAGER, ZHEJIANG SEAHEAD SHIP DESIGN AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE "It is a ship specifically customized for the Yangtze River. The ship's standards meet the hydrologic conditions and requirements of shipping lanes."  

River sailing standards are now in place for the new ships. The first one was delivered in 2017. And two more ship designs are now in progress. By 2017, Zhoushan had handled over a billion tons of cargo, and nearly one fourth of them were shipped to cities along Yangtze river. Experts say in time, the proportion will rise.  

XU QUANCHANG DIRECTOR, SHOUSHAN NAVIGATION AFFAIRS BUREAU "We have cargo ships coming from over 180 ports worldwide. So we are expanding the scale, market and size of ships involved in river-sea transportation."  

The container ships are now in development, and in the future ships will be able to go directly from Zhoushan to ports in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Ning Hong, CGTN, Zhejiang Province.