On October 10, 2026, on the left bank of the Gezhouba Hub, the first truck of cofferdam filling materials was transported to the operation site by roll on/roll off ships, and the construction of the upstream and downstream cofferdams for Gezhouba Shipping Capacity Expansion officially began. The shipping upgrade project of the first dam on the Yangtze River, spanning thousands of miles, has entered the main construction phase, taking a crucial step towards resolving the bottleneck of shipping in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Strengthen the core barrier of dry land construction with a cofferdam

As the first key checkpoint for the expansion of Gezhouba's shipping capacity, the upstream and downstream cofferdams will jointly enclose the construction area with the bank slope. After draining the accumulated water in the foundation pit, the construction personnel can carry out the demolition of the old ship lock and the pouring of the new ship lock just like on land. The upstream cofferdam is a temporary hydraulic structure of Grade I, with flood control standards set according to the main dam of Gezhouba. It has a total length of 835.94 meters, a maximum weir height of 28 meters, a total construction period of 24 months, a dredging volume of about 518000 cubic meters, and a filling volume of about 1.0152 million cubic meters.

The downstream cofferdam consists of four parts: concrete cofferdam, steel pipe pile cofferdam, earth rock cofferdam, and rock embankment cofferdam, with a total length of 960.85 meters. The project team is seizing the opportunity to advance operations during the dry season of the Yangtze River, while also opening up a green water transportation channel from the Wayaoping material preparation and processing plant to the Letianxi wharf. The filling materials are transported to the site through more than 30 kilometers of the Yangtze River waterway, greatly reducing the impact of land transportation on urban transportation. Synchronize and strengthen safety and quality control throughout the construction process, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent construction of the main ship lock.

Four line ship lock pattern solves long-term shipping bottlenecks

Since its operation on June 27, 1981, the Gezhouba Ship Lock has seen a surge in cargo volume from less than 4 million tons annually to 172 million tons by 2025 over a period of 45 years. It has been operating at high loads for a long time and has become a key bottleneck for shipping in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. This project will demolish the existing No. 3 ship lock and build two new 10000 ton ship locks on the original site, each with a length of 280 meters and a width of 40 meters and a minimum depth of 8 meters on the threshold, to completely fill the gap in navigation capacity.

After the completion of the project, the Gezhouba hub will form a four line ship lock pattern, with an annual two-way total throughput capacity of 360 million tons, fully matching the navigation capacity of the Three Gorges hub. Throughout the entire construction period, the Gezhouba No.1 and No.2 ship locks will remain navigable, and the basic navigation capacity of the Yangtze River will not be affected. The upgrading and renovation of the Yangtze River Golden Waterway will be steadily completed without interrupting navigation. Keywords: Gezhouba Shipping, Yangtze River Upstream Shipping

The engineering ships on the river are orderly moving back and forth, and the precise placement of filling materials is being carried out one by one. The upgrading of shipping for the first dam of the Yangtze River, spanning thousands of miles, is steadily advancing on the banks of the rolling river.Editor/Cheng Liting