A capacity upgrade project on the Liujiang River has been completed, according to Xinhua, enabling 500-tonne vessels to access the waterway to Liuzhou city, in southeast China’s Guangxi autonomous region. The Liujiang is a tributary of the Pearl River, China’s third longest river. It connects north Guangxi and southeast Guizhou province to the Xijiang River and the lower part of Pearl.

Before the upgrade, the river could only accommodate 250-300-tonne vessels during the rainy season and was unnavigable for five months of the year. In future, its capacity will be upgraded to make the waterway accessible to 2,000-tonne vessels.

Liuzhou is the second largest city in Guangxi and its main industrial centre.