Cargo throughput at Three Gorges Dam tops 138m tons in 2020

A total of 138 million tons of cargo passed through the three gorges dam in 2020, of which 137 million tons were handled by the three gorges ship lock, data from the china three gorges corporation (ctg) showed.

The ship lock’s major equipments are all in good condition with average navigation rate for the two-way ship lanes reaching 94.62%, the data showed.

The achievements were made against the backdrop of a series of disruptions to the operations of the ship lock in 2020, an extraordinary year due to the covid-19 pandemic. Shipping operations were impacted to some extent by the pandemic. The three gorges dam had to cease the shipping service for 61 days to cope with the largest flood peak since the establishment of the dam, which also forced the maintenance of the three gorges ship lock to be postponed.

The ship lock implemented maintenance and protection measures around the clock amid the covid-19 pandemic, delivering a navigation rate of 98.77%. As an important pathway of delivering supplies in the middle and upper reaches of the yangtze river, the ship lock of the three gorges dam ensured the smooth shipping of various kinds of emergency supplies for economic and social development.