Yangtze River Trade

China's Yangtze, the busiest inland waterway on earth by cargo volume.

Overview

Ocean ships reach Nanjing and river fleets push far beyond, with roughly 2,800 kilometers of navigable waterway. System cargo volumes count in the billions of tonnes, multiples of any other river. The Three Gorges Dam added a five-stage ship lock and a ship lift to pass the world's largest river traffic, moving containers, coal, grain and autos between Chongqing, Wuhan and Shanghai. River ports like Suzhou and Nanjing rank among the world's largest inland ports by tonnage. Upstream dam management now sets the seasonal rhythm of drafts and flows that the barging fleet must follow.