A four-year project to widen and deepen the Luohuzhou section of the Yangtze River was completed on 21 December in Hubei province, reported Xinhua, allowing a 10,000 ton tug barge fleet to pass through the former bottleneck.
The central government allocated Rmb133m on the comprehensive clearance of this section in the middle reaches of Yangtze. The width of section ranges from 350 metres to 510 metres, with a minimum year-round depth of 4.5 metres, said Peng Songbai, a Wuhan-based Yangtze River Waterway Bureau official.
From now on, 5,000-tonne ships and 10,000-tonne cargo barge fleets can pass the 12km section which previously had led to some large vessels being stranded en route to Wuhan, according to a report by the Transportation Ministry.
Around half of the more than 40 major shallow water areas or rocks hindering transport on the Yangtze are found in the middle reaches.