Three Gorges Dam ship locks register record cargo throughput

WUHAN - The cargo throughput via the five-tier ship locks at the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project in the upper stream of the Yangtze, reached a record high of 102 million tons during the first eight months of this year, according to the China Three Gorges Corporation.

China's longest river, the Yangtze, an east-west inland waterway, is regarded as the country's "golden shipping route."

During the January-August period, nearly 24.5 million tons of key materials including coal, diesel, and grain were transported via the Three Gorges Dam, up 6.3 percent year on year, according to the corporation.

The Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water-control system, consisting of a 2,309-meter-long and 185-meter-high dam, five-tier ship locks on the north and south sides, and 34 turbo-generators with a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts.

Since the ship locks opened to trial navigation in June 2003, the freight volume through them has increased rapidly. According to official statistics, the annual cargo throughput via the ship locks increased from 34.31 million tons in 2004 to 146 million tons in 2021.