Nanning, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Although the infrastructure construction of the golden waterway in Guangxi's Xijiang River continues to improve and its role in pulling the economy is becoming increasingly apparent, compared with the rapidly developing freight demand, there are still some blockages such as lagging ship facilities and some low-grade waterways, and the interprovincial waterways such as Yunnan and Guizhou are not smooth enough, and the respondents have a higher call for the growth rate of the waterway.
Some major waterways are not sufficiently navigable and continue to be stranded
In recent years, a number of bottlenecks in the Xijiang Golden Waterway have been cracked and alleviated, but there are still constraints and blockages in some major waterways.
The reporter of the Economic Information Daily saw in the upstream of the Changzhou water conservancy hub that hundreds of large cargo ships were waiting to pass through the gate. Downstream channel dredging vessels are under construction, can only be navigated in one direction for a long time and limit the number of ships crossing the gate per day. Su Zhifeng, a staff member of the Water Transport Center of Wuzhou Municipal Transportation Bureau, said that in recent years, the phenomenon of upstream and downstream stagnation occurred frequently during dry periods, which became the "bottleneck" of the Xijiang shipping trunk line. On the one hand, the freight volume is growing too fast, and the first to fourth line locks have been built, and the five-line locks are planned to be expanded; on the other hand, the downstream water level changes frequently, the waterway water depth is insufficient, and the minimum channel water level during the dry period is only about 1.7 meters.
The Datengxia Water Conservancy Hub Project is a key controlling water conservancy hub in the Pearl River Basin and is known as the "Three Gorges Project" on the Pearl River. The reporter saw in the upper reaches of the Datengxia Water Conservancy Hub Locks during the dry period in March that there were more than 200 ships waiting in line for navigation. During the flood season in June, there are fewer ships waiting in line upstream for navigation, but more ships waiting downstream to go up.
The real-time data on lock dispatch provided by the Guangxi Datengxia Water Conservancy Hub Lock Management Center on June 30 shows that at 9:18 on June 30, 28 ships waited for the downward movement and 520 ships waited for the upward movement in the DatengXia. On June 29, the number of ships going down and up the locks was 34 and 36 respectively.
Wang Xiaolin, director of the Guangxi Datengxia Water Conservancy Hub Lock Management Center, said that an important reason for the long waiting time for ships is that there are many shoals and shoals downstream of the Datengxia locks, and the channel dredging project was only implemented at the beginning of this year, and there are no conditions for night navigation. Ships in the dry period need to significantly reduce the load before they can go down, and the navigation efficiency is greatly reduced. "Originally, after the dredging of the waterway, there was no need to rely on the sky to eat, but because there was no dredging 10 kilometers downstream, it is still relying on the sky to eat."
Wei Yuqin, a senior engineer at the Autonomous Region Port and Shipping Development Center, said that after the completion of the Datengxia Water Conservancy Hub, the past ships were increased from hundreds of tons before the trial navigation to 3,000 tons, and the demand for crossing the gate had exceeded the design standard. ”
Xu Yichun, chairman of Guangxi Xindongyun Mining Co., Ltd., said that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has a large demand for building materials, and the company's average daily production capacity of sand and gravel materials is 120,000 tons, which is restricted by the navigable capacity of The Dayeng Gorge, and now the daily production volume is only about 20,000 tons. They are ready to invest in the construction of the Datengxia dam overturning project, which will transport goods over the dam and then ship them to the Pearl River Delta.
Liuzhou is an important industrial town in southwest China, and there is a strong demand for port logistics. Yi Xueqiang, director of the Liuzhou Waterway Conservation Center, said that there are 658.9 kilometers of Liujiang, Hongshuihe and Qianjiang rivers under their jurisdiction, most of which are Class 4 and Class 5 waterways, and can only pass ships of 300 tons to 500 tons. Liang Hong, chairman of Guangxi Xijiang Group Safflower Second-line Locks Co., Ltd., said that the river channel under the safflower water conservancy hub dam was affected by shoals, and thousand-ton ships could not pass during the dry period.
Ning Chunming, secretary of the party committee of Guangxi Liuzhou Iron and Steel Group Logistics Company, said that because the Dateng Gorge is often delayed and some shallow shoals in some sections of the river are impassable, they have to choose land transportation with high transportation costs. At its peak, Liugang transported 1.5 million tons of steel a year through the Partridge River terminal, falling to 200,000 tons in 2019 and 100,000 tons in 2020.
The Xijin Water Conservancy Hub is the "throat" of Nanning to the Pearl River Delta. At the construction site of the second-line locks of the Xijin Water Conservancy Hub, Yan Shikuan, director of the Nanning Port and Navigation Development Center, said that the first-line locks were put into use in 1964, with a design annual two-way passing capacity of 6.5 million tons, and the freight volume of the gates in 2020 reached 17.59 million tons.
The passage of the Yunnan-Guizhou West River to the sea is not yet smooth
The Xijiang River and some of its tributaries are important water transport routes from Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Constrained by some historical factors, some cascade power stations along the river failed to build ship facilities simultaneously during the construction of the river, resulting in the inability of cargo ships to pass through the Pearl River Delta from Yunnan and Guizhou.
The Baise Water Conservancy Hub is located in the Youjiang River, a tributary of the Xijiang River, and is one of the important landmark projects for the implementation of the large-scale development of the western region by the state. Wang Yang, director of the hub management center of Youjiang Water Conservancy Company, introduced that the Baise hub is mainly flood control, with comprehensive functions such as power generation, irrigation and water supply, and the navigation facilities belong to the second phase of the hub project, and the construction officially began on June 23 this year.
Yang Weiquan, director of the Baise Port and Shipping Development Center, introduced that the renovation project of the Baise-Yunnan-Guizhou junction channel has begun, and the Right River waterway to Yunnan is expected to be fully connected after May 2026.
The Design Capacity of jinjitan Shipping Hub Locks located downstream of Baise is 6.36 million tons, while the total design and passing capacity of the six port operation areas that have been built in Baise Port has exceeded the passing capacity of Jinjitan Locks by more than twice. Li Shang, chief of the construction and maintenance section of the Nanning Port and Shipping Development Center, said that the second-line locks of the Jinjitan shipping hub are subject to multiple conditions and have not yet started construction. At present, the relevant parties are actively coordinating and striving to solve this shipping bottleneck at an early date.
The Hongshui River, a tributary of the Xijiang River, is an important shipping channel connecting Guizhou and Guangxi, and it also faces difficulties in the construction of ship-crossing facilities and the lack of smooth inter-provincial shipping.
The Longtan Hydropower Project, located at the junction of Qiangui and Guizhou, is a landmark project of the state's implementation of the strategy of "large-scale development of the western region" and "transmission of electricity from the west to the east", and no ship facilities were built simultaneously when the construction began in 2001. Wang Pengyu, director of Longtan Hydropower Plant, introduced that on December 23, 2008, all 7 units of the first phase of the Longtan Hydropower Project were put into power generation and operation. In order to meet the growing demand for shipping for rapid social and economic development, Longtan Hydropower Station is actively promoting the preliminary work of upgrading navigable ships from 500 tons to 1000 tons, and after the completion of the project, the annual one-way passing capacity will be 3.5 million tons.
With the completion of ship-crossing facilities at yantan and Dahua hydropower station hubs downstream of the Longtan Hydropower Project, some sections of the Hongshui River have gradually become navigable, but there are difficulties in insufficient navigation capacity.
Jiang Chunming, director of the Party and Group Work Department of Datang Yantan Hydropower Co., Ltd., said that the ship lift of Yantan Hydropower Station can only navigate 250-ton ships, and the supporting facilities of the upstream river section are not perfect, and the shipping value has not been well played.
Shi Shaoxiong, assistant director of the Hydraulic Department of the Dahua Hydropower Plant of Guangxi Laurel Power Co., Ltd., said that the Dahua locks are limited by river channels and cascade hydropower stations, coupled with the rapid development of water transportation, as well as the lack of depth of upstream and downstream pilot channels, and other factors, the middle reaches of the main stream of the Hongshui River can only navigate small tonnage ships of 500 tons or less, and cannot form a cluster-type scale, and cannot give full play to the shipping role of the Hongshui River as a sea passage for the middle line of southwest water transport.
Lu Lixin, deputy general manager of Guangxi Hechi Xijiang Port Co., Ltd., said that the Du'an Hongdu Operation Area is located in the middle and upper reaches of the Hongshui River Basin, and is constrained by the conditions of the Hongshui River waterway, such as water emergency, beach risk, bays, lock width and insufficient water depth, and the number of ships traveling to and from Du'an and the Pearl River Delta all year round is only about 20, which is difficult to meet the needs of port development.
Originating in Guizhou Province, duliu river and Rongjiang river, it flows into the Liujiang River in Liucheng County, Guangxi. Yi Xueqiang said that some places in Guizhou have improved the navigation facilities according to the 500-ton standard, and look forward to opening up blockages as soon as possible, unclogging interprovincial waterways, and transporting goods to downstream areas.
Multiple measures have been taken simultaneously to promote the growth rate of Xijiang Shipping
Interviewees suggested that improving the construction of the Xijiang Golden Waterway should enhance the forward-looking, systematic and urgent planning and operation of the waterway.
First of all, strengthen the forward-looking planning of the whole basin and reserve sufficient space for development. Wang Xiaolin said that at the beginning of the design of Datengxia, the problem of shipping growth in the riverside area after the improvement of the waterway conditions was taken into account, and the space for the construction of second-line locks was reserved, but the strong demand for shipping in the riverside area still exceeded the requirements of the original design.
Ye Qing, chairman of Guangxi Xijiang Group Xijin Second-line Locks Co., Ltd., said that Xijin Second-line Locks can pass 3,000 tons of ships, one-way annual passing capacity of 27.6 million tons, a great leap over the annual passing capacity of the original Xijin first-line locks, but after the completion of the western land-sea new channel (Pinglu) Canal, the ship load of jianghai intermodal transport will reach more than 5,000 tons, and the freight volume will also increase significantly And it is necessary to fully consider the demand for the growth of river-sea intermodal ship types and freight volumes in the future.
Lin Ning, deputy director of the Lock Operation and Management Department of Guangxi Xijiang Group, said that the lack of navigable capacity of the locks is one of the important factors restricting the development of Xijiang shipping, and suggested that the relevant departments conduct a thorough survey of the locks with greater navigation pressure in the Golden Waterway of the Xijiang River, conduct a comprehensive assessment of the existing freight volume, cargo types, freight volume growth trends and other indicators, and carry out unified planning and construction of cargo "over-dam" transportation.
Interviewees suggested that the pace of improving and upgrading the locks and waterways of the Xijiang Waterway should be accelerated, the main waterways should be smoother, and the interprovincial waterways should be opened as soon as possible. At present, there are a large number of sand and gravel materials, minerals, building materials, etc. in the upper reaches of the Xijiang River that need to be transported to the Greater Bay Area through shipping. Huang Chuanhao, a member of the party group of the Guigang Municipal Transportation Bureau, suggested that the construction of the second and third-line locks of the Datengxia Water Conservancy Hub be promoted as soon as possible. Li Jian, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee of Wuzhou Lingang Economic Zone, suggested accelerating the construction of the fifth-line locks of the Changzhou Water Conservancy Hub and the implementation of the reconstruction and expansion of the first-line and second-line locks.
Yang Weiquan, Wei Hailin, director of the Dahua County Port and Navigation Institute in Guangxi, and others held that it is necessary to promote the construction of the second-line locks of the Jinji Water Conservancy Hub, the Longtan ship crossing facilities, the Rock Beach Ship Lift Transformation Project, and the Dahua Ship Locks Reconstruction and Expansion Project as soon as possible, so as to solve the bottleneck problem of the inter-provincial waterway between Yungui and Guiqian. Promote the reconstruction of bridges with insufficient net height such as the Tiandong Bridge and the Tianyang Napo Bridge, and coordinate and rectify the problems such as insufficient clearance height of the cable across the river in the Right River Waterway, so as to meet the navigable standards of the Level III waterway.
Second, it is necessary to strengthen the systematic nature of The development of the Xijiang River and coordinate the interests of all aspects. Since the upgrading and improvement of the waterway involves the interests of all parties such as power generation, shipping, and water supply, Cen Shuhua, senior engineer of the Autonomous Region Port and Navigation Development Center, suggested that the top-level design of the Xijiang Golden Waterway should be strengthened to improve the quality and effect, and a comprehensive coordination agency should be established to systematically layout and coordinate the promotion of projects under construction and reconstruction, and coordinate the development and utilization of the Xijiang River Basin to avoid the situation of "multi-dragon water management".
Wei Hailin suggested that the Hongshui River is the main stream of the upper reaches of the Xijiang River, and the hydropower stations developed before the mid-1980s did not fully consider navigation operations and did not build boat facilities, resulting in the loss of navigation of the Hongshui River. It is recommended that in the future construction and transformation of the water conservancy hub project involved in the sea, full consideration should be given to the needs of flood control, power generation, shipping, ecology and other aspects, and the lock project and the hydropower and water conservancy project should be planned and implemented simultaneously to ensure that the design standards and actual needs match and will not lag behind in the short term. (Reporter Liu Wei Huang Haoming He Wei Sun Yi)
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