Operators look to improve lock system

One of the companies to have benefited from the construction of the Three Gorges Dam is the Chongqing Iron & Steel Group. The company has made huge savings because the cost of transporting goods on the waterway has fallen as a result of improved conditions on the Yangtze River.

Statistics from the Chongqing Traffic Committee show that the price of waterway transport of bulk cargo on the main section of the river is 0.03 yuan (0.5 US cents) per metric ton per kilometer, just one-sixth of the cost of rail transport and one-fifth of carrying the goods by road.

"The Three Gorges Project has reduced the comprehensive logistical costs of the regions alongside the river, and also the price of commodities. That will benefit a large number of people," said He Shengping, chairman of the Chongqing Shipping Exchange