Three Gorges Dam exceeds cargo target set for 2030
Project has improved conditions for river navigation but is constrained by limited lock capacity
The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, has reached its shipping capacity and already exceeds the target set for 2030, the Ministry of Transport said.
One of the key benefits of the vast infrastructure project was an increase in shipping capacity, but now engineers are struggling with the challenge of how to provide more room for cargo on the Yangtze River.
The dam has made the river deeper and slower, allowing for easier navigation - especially upstream - for cargo and passenger vessels. The limiting factor for cargo, however, is the capacity of a five-step lock and a soon-to-be-completed ship lift to transport vessels across the 181-metre high dam.
"We estimate the throughput of the five-tier ship lock of the Three Gorges Dam will hit 110 million tonnes this year … It's far beyond our expectations," Li Yang, deputy director of the Policy Research of Ministry of Transport, said at a press conference in Beijing yesterday. "The shipping capacity of the three Gorges Dam's lock is already full."
Li said the project was designed in the 1980s when experts estimated that less than 100 million tonnes of shipping would use the scheme each year before 2030.