Shanghai to develop advanced waterway network by 2008
19/5/2004 15:21
Shanghai will build an advanced waterway network with a total length of
500 kilometers and a capacity of more than 300 million short tons by 2008,
according to the Shanghai navigation affairs administration.
Shanghai is
a port city with rich freshwater resources. However, the 2,100 kilometers of
freshwater flowing through the city handles only a meager amount of container
transportation each year because the waterways are too narrow and shallow. Only
245 kilometers, just over one-tenth of the whole network, have a capacity over
300 million short tons.
The development of the advanced system will
double that capacity and transform the navigation history of Shanghai.
As
depicted by Ren Cijie, the director of the administration, the network will be
formed by one circular loop made up of five channels along with ten
sub-channels, something like a sun and its rays. Each channel and sub-channel
will have a capacity of 300 million short tons for boats or barges.
The
five channels making up the circle will all be located in the city, such as the
Huangpu River. The sub-channels will be mostly inter-city ones linking Shanghai
and its neighboring cities in the Yangtze River Delta Region.
Once built,
the waterway network will create new links between the Shanghai Harbor and the
inland port cities along the Yangtze River. Container boats heading for the
Shanghai Harbor will also be able to cruise and wait in the network of channels
when the Harbor is busy.
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