By the end of 2006, the navigable mileage of inland river channels in the whole country had reached 123,400km. They included classified channels of 61,000km, accounting for 49.5% of the total mileage; channels of Class III and above of 8,687km, accounting for 7.0% of the total mileage; channels of Class V and above of 24,039km, accounting for 9.5% of the total mileage. The navigable mileage of inland river channels of different classes was: Class I channel of 1,407km、Class II channel of 2,538km、Class III channel of 4,742km、Class IV channel of 6,768km、Class V channel of 8,584km、Class VI channel of 18,407km, and Class VII channel of 18,589km. The inland river channels in the country included natural and canalized rivers of 64,526km, restricted channels of 36,156km, wide and shallow river channels of 6,130km, channels in mountainous torrential rivers of 4,311km, lake area channels of 3,462km and channels in reservoir area of 8,804km. In the whole country, there were four provinces in the country each with navigable mileage of inland river channels exceeding 10,000 km, respectively Jiangsu (24,347km), Guangdong (11,844km), Hunan (11,495km) and Sichuan (10,720km).
By the end of 2006, there had been a total of 4,142 junctures on the inland river channels in the whole country, including 2,339 with navigation functions. The navigation structures included 833 ship gates and 42 ship lifts.
By the end of 2006, there had been a total of 35,453 operating jetty berths, a net increase of 211 over the previous year. They included 1,203 berths of 10,000t Class and above, a net increase of 169 over the previous year.
The coastal harbors in the country had 4,511 operating berths, including 978 berths of 10,000t class and over; the inland river harbors had 30,942 operating berths, including 225 berths of 10,000t class and over. The 10,000t class inland river harbor berths were distributed along the trunk course of Yangtze River, the Beijing – Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Pearl River water system, respectively 216, 5 and 4.
(China National Tourism Administration)
