China”s launch of a 77.2-billion-yuan ($11.39 billion) infrastructure project to expand the Three Gorges Dam’s navigation system is set to eliminate chronic shipping bottlenecks and substantially lower national logistics costs, supercharging the industrial arteries of its vast economy, industry experts said.
The megaproject, which officially broke ground recently in Yichang, Hubei province, represents a milestone capital investment to clear a critical choke point along the Yangtze River, the world’s busiest inland waterway, they said.
China Three Gorges Corp announced that the massive capital expenditure comprises of two major capacity upgrades. At the Three Gorges Hub, the operator will excavate deep into the left-bank rock face to construct two new ship locks parallel to the existing dual-line locks, upgrading the hub to a four-lane configuration.
Downstream, a concurrent overhaul at the Gezhouba Dam will see its No 3 lock dismantled to make way for two new single-stage locks, significantly widening the approach channels.
The massive capital expenditure is driven by capacity constraints that have threatened to throttle regional supply chains.
Originally designed to handle 100 million metric tons of cargo annually by 2030, the Three Gorges locks hit that target in 2011 — a full 19 years ahead of schedule, according to Zhang Chaoran, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
By 2025, total freight volume surging through the hub had reached 173 million tons, said Zhang.
“Today, the locks are operating at 160 to 170 percent of their design capacity, serving the country’s transportation needs while pushed to their absolute limits,” said Hu Ya’an, another academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Hu noted the expansion poses world-class engineering hurdles, as a single lock gate will stand over 40 meters tall and weigh 1,350 tons. However, resolving the bottleneck is an absolute economic necessity for the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Spanning 11 provinces and municipalities, the region accounts for over 40 percent of the nation’s population and GDP. The river serves as an indispensable logistics corridor for a massive industrial footprint spanning metallurgy, automotive, chemicals, and high-tech manufacturing.
The waterway currently handles 85 percent of the region’s iron ore and foreign trade goods, alongside 83 percent of its coal.
According to Su Fengming, a researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission’s Institute of Comprehensive Transportation, the economic belt’s GDP surpassed 65 trillion yuan last year, with mainline port cargo throughput hitting roughly 4.2 billion tons — exceeding the nation’s total railway cargo volume by over 80 percent.
This heavy reliance is rooted in unit economics. Waterway transport costs merely one-fifth of rail transit, and its carbon dioxide emissions are just one-thirteenth of highway transport.
“This absolute price and cost advantage cements the Yangtze’s position as the ‘main artery’ of our comprehensive transportation corridor,” said Su.
As China strategically shifts its manufacturing bases from the wealthy eastern coast toward its central and western regions, the demand for low-cost, high-volume transport has intensified.
“Relying on this waterway, industries like equipment manufacturing, new energy, and automotive are clustering along the river,” Su noted, adding that this inland migration is vital for bridging the economic divide between China’s eastern and western regions.
Chongqing municipality, a major manufacturing hub in the upper reaches of the Yangtze, illustrates this structural shift, as its economic development zones rely heavily on the river for their foreign trade.
In 2025, Chongqing’s port throughput broke 240 million tons, a 50 percent increase over the past decade. The cargo profile has rapidly evolved from raw minerals to high-value manufactured goods; last year, the city’s automotive export value broke 53 billion yuan, up 23 percent year-on-year, while high-tech exports approached 330 billion yuan.
zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn
