The heavy investment in China’s road and rail infrastructure over recent years has greatly reduced the role of the Yangtze as a means of transporting passengers, but leisure cruising has developed fast, according to the Yangtze River Administration. During the first half of this year, occupancy in some high-end cruise vessels exceeded 80 per cent.

However the vessels, including those still under construction and which can be as big as 150 metres long and 24 metres wide, mostly fall outside the standards set for the Three Gorges and Gezhouba dams, thereby reducing the efficiency of the shiplocks. Earlier this week saw the maiden voyage of the cruise ship MS Yangtze II, which is 139 metres long and can accommodate up to 452 people.

Government officials have started looking into the issue in the hope that cruises will eventually become part of the Yangtze vessel standardisation programme.