YICHANG, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The Three Gorges Dam Project has played a significant role in improving navigation conditions and increasing shipping capacity in China's Yangtze River.

    Cargo transportation via the Three Gorges Dam increased to 44 million tons last year from 14.75 million tons in 2003 when the Three Gorges reservoir began storing water, said Cao Guangjing, deputy general manager of the Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation.

Demolition of the cofferdam protecting the just-completed Three Gorges Dam starts at 4:00 on Tuesday afternoon in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province, June 6, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

    Yi Mengxiong, in his early fifties, said the increase in shipping capacity was something that he had never dreamed of.

    Yi said his company only had several small boats in the past and now the company owns 22 large and medium-sized ships, including three roll-on roll-off ships each worth 10 million yuan (1.25 million U.S. dollars).

    "Navigation on the Yangtze is easier as the navigation course is wider and deeper thanks to water storage in the Three Gorges reservoir," Yi said.

    Yi, captain of "Qiaotai-17", is busy shuttling between the ports of Chongqing and Hubei Province on the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze.

    "We expanded our fleet because of the improved navigation on the Yangtze," said He Changjiang, deputy general manager of Chongqing-based Qiaotai Shipping Company, where Yi works.

    The navigation course was only 2.9 meters deep at the shallowest parts of the Three Gorges section of the Yangtze before the Three Gorges reservoir began storing water in 2003, restricting the passage of ships with high dead weight tonnage.

    Currently, the navigation course on the Yangtze River provides access to vessels with 3,000 dead-weight-tonnage, said Feng Zhengpeng, an official with the Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation.

    When the water level of the Three Gorges reservoir reaches 156 meters, the width of the navigation course will expand to more than 150 meters, with the depth exceeding 3.5 meters. This allows the non-stop passage of vessels with 10,000 dead-weight-tonnage from Shanghai, located at the estuary of the Yangtze, to Chongqing, on the upper reaches of the river, Feng said.

    With improving navigation conditions, ships will sail on the Yangtze more safely and their speed can increase by about 20 percent, Feng said, adding navigation costs would be cut by 30 percent for per ton-kilometer.

    Seven provinces and two municipalities along the Yangtze make up 41 percent of China's total economic overall strength and the shipping capacity on the Yangtze accounts for 80 percent of the total shipping capacity of China's inland rivers, according to statistics from the Ministry of Communications.

    The shipping capacity on the mainstream of the Yangtze reached 795 million tons last year.

    The handling capacity of ports along the river's mainstream reached 650 million tons last year. The total throughput included 78 million tons of cargo in foreign trade and 2.6 million TEUs of containers, according to the Yangtze River Navigation Affairs Administration.

    The throughput on the mainstream was only 400 million tons in 2000.

    The Three Gorges Project was launched in 1993, and was scheduled to be completed by 2009.

    The Three Gorges Project, including a 2,309-m-long, 185-m-high dam with 26 power generators, is expected to generate 84.7 billion kwh of electricity annually when it is completed. It is also expected to control flooding on the Yangtze, fuel industrial growth in the area and improve shipping. Enditem