Shipping capacity on the Yangtze River, China's longest waterway, reached 795 million tons last year, making it one of the world's busiest inland waterways.

The handling capacity of ports along the river's mainstream reached 650 million tons in 2005. The total throughput included 78 million tons of cargo in foreign trade and 2.6 million TEUs (or twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers, according to Jin Yihua, director of the Yangtze River Navigation Affairs Administration.

The throughput on the mainstream was only 400 million tons in 2000.

Recognizing the increasingly important role that the Yangtze plays in economic growth in the area, the Chinese government, in 2003, earmarked 16 billion yuan (about US$2 billion) to improve the navigation course of the Yangtze before 2020.

To date, an expansion project for a navigation course 10.5 meters deep has been completed, which provides passage to shipping vessels with 50,000 dwt (dead weight tonnage) through the Nanjing-Shanghai section of the Yangtze.

Buoys have been installed on the Nanjing-Liuhekou section of the river, so as to ensure the passing ships' navigation safety.

Currently, the Yangtze is flanked by metallurgical, power, chemical, auto, building materials and machinery industrial belts, along with more than 20 state-level economic and technological, and high-tech development zones.

The shipping capacity of the river's mainstream is expected reach to 860 million tons this year, with the handling capacity of its ports topping 750 million tons, including 90 million tons of cargo in foreign trade and 3.1 million TEUs of containers, according to navigation authorities.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2006)