Since the start of this month, information about the state of the waterway between the Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba Dam is being conveyed on a telephone enquiry service. Dial 0717-696 3456 and you will hear updated information, such as time slots for passing the shiplocks at both dams, water depths, currents, a weather forecast and anchorage vacancies.

This is a free, 24-hour automated service that caters particularly for vessels not yet equipped with GPS devices. Such information is already available via the official website of the Three Gorges Administration of Navigational Affairs. However many ship operators, mostly small and owned by families, complain that internet access is not easily available on vessels. The automated telephone enquiry service is designed to address this problem.

The fact that the two dams are only 38km apart has made shipping conditions in this section of the Yangtze particularly complicated. The regular cycle of storing and releasing water from both dams has created new rapids and other hazards.

In a separate announcement, the Three Gorges Administration, which is in charge of the waterway in both reservoirs, said that Rmb160m has been set aside for a major dredging project in this section later in 2010, which will involve exploding some hidden rocks. The project, which will not lead to any closure of the waterway, will improve shipping conditions and increase available space for anchorage.