Shipping throughput of Three Gorges Dam hits new record

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 2, 2023 shows ships passing through the five-tier ship locks of the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo by Wang Gang/Xinhua)

WUHAN, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The shipping throughput of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, hit a new record in 2022, the Three Gorges Navigation Authority said Monday.

The project's total throughput reached 159.8 million tonnes in 2022, an increase of 6.12 percent year on year.

In 2022, the cargo throughput of the project was 159.65 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 6.53 percent. Meanwhile, the throughput via the five-tier ship locks at the dam was 156.18 million tonnes, up 6.65 percent year on year.

The Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water-control system, consisting of a 2,309-meter-long and 185-meter-high dam, five-tier ship locks on the north and south sides, and 34 turbo-generators with a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts.

Since the Three Gorges locks opened to trial navigation in June 2003, the volume of freight passing through them has increased rapidly.

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 1, 2023 shows ships passing through the five-tier ship locks of the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo by Zheng Jiayu/Xinhua)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 2, 2023 shows ships passing through the five-tier ship locks of the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo by Wang Gang/Xinhua)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 2, 2023 shows ships passing through the five-tier ship locks of the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo by Zheng Jiayu/Xinhua)