(ECNS) - China on Monday began construction of a major waterway expansion at the Three Gorges–Gezhouba transport hub on the Yangtze River, aiming to relieve long-standing congestion and boost freight capacity along the country's busiest inland waterway.
The new project, with a planned investment of 77.2 billion yuan ($10.7 billion), includes a navigation channel at the Three Gorges Dam and expanded lock capacity at the Gezhouba hub.
Cargo traffic on the Yangtze has consistently outpaced the system's design limits. Freight throughput at the Three Gorges hub reached 173 million metric tons in 2025, well above capacity, leading to persistent vessel queues and lengthy delays.
Upon completion, the Three Gorges hub will operate four ship-lock lines in addition to its existing ship lift, raising annual two-way cargo capacity to 336 million tons. Gezhouba's capacity is expected to reach 360 million tons annually.
Qin Zunwen, an adviser to the Hubei provincial government, said the additional locks would significantly improve navigation efficiency and ease pressure on the current system, which has been operating near saturation for years.
Experts said the expansion could lower transportation costs for manufacturers, logistics firms and exporters along the Yangtze while strengthening multimodal transport links between inland and coastal regions.
Tian Ye, a researcher at Hubei University of Economics, said greater use of water transport could also help reduce fuel consumption and emissions by shifting cargo from road and rail networks to shipping.
(By Zhang Jiahao)