With thousands of years of water transport, all things in China can easily travel around. On Oct. 7, a special program of CCTV news aired titled "Seeing Beautiful Land · Magnificent Rivers of China", focusing on the development of shipping along the northern Jiangsu section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
The northern Jiangsu section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal starts from Lingjiaba in Xuzhou in the north and ends at Liuweikou in Yangzhou in the south, with a total length of 462 kilometers, passing through 14 counties (districts) in Xuzhou, Suqian, Huai'an and Yangzhou, connecting the Yi-Shu-Si, Huaihe and Yangtze River basins. It has 11 shipping echelons and 30 large locks. Grand Canal in the North of Jiangsu gives full play to the advantages of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal as the only management system to achieve unified management. The freight volume has remained above 300 million tons for eight consecutive years, and it carries more than 50% of the transportation of building materials and nearly one-third of the transportation of electricity and coal in inland rivers of Jiangsu Province, providing strong transportation support for the regional economic and social development.
In particular, this section (from Huai’an Lock to Jiulong Lake Park) is currently being built as a green modern shipping demonstration section. In the construction of the project, in order to effectively improve the Huai’an and Huainan section of the Grand Canal navigation order, ensure the efficient, convenient and safe water transport, an upstream anchorage of Huaian lock has been constructed.
In Huaian anchorage, shipmaster Ma of "shandong jining goods 3219" clicked the QR code in ChuanXunTong App, and then just one button fills the ship with clean tap water. Shipmaster Ma said: "In the past, domestic water on the ship can only be filled with bucket when you refueling the ship. Now it is so convenient. According to the ship's integrity level, you can even use it for free. I hope such convenient facilities will be promoted more." Since the anchorage was put into use, it has eased the docking problem of ships passing through the Huaian Lock, brought convenience to the life of the crew, and the garbage recycling device has also protected the ecological environment of the Canal. According to statistics, the anchorage provides ships with 43,406 degrees of shore electricity and 8,323 tons of tap water every year, accepts and cleans more than 550 tons of ship garbage and sewage, and serves nearly 4,000 crew members.
Huaian Lock is the third lock of the Grand Canal in the North of Jiangsu from south to north, accepting ships from the Huaihe River, the Lixia River and the Grand Canal. As of September 25, the Huaian lock has released 4,779 ships and 92,302 freighters, with the passing volume of 215 million tons of ships and 186 million tons of goods, up 7.8% year on year, and 257,000 TEU of containers, up 5.8% year on year.
The Grand Canal has a thousand years of history, and the best part of it is in Shaobo. Shaobo Lock of Yangzhou section of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the epitome of Chinese lock development, which originated from ten years of Taiyuan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, with a long history of more than 1600 years. Currently, the lock is one of the busiest in the Northern Jiangsu Canal, with an annual shipping volume of 300 million tons and a cargo volume of 240 million tons.
400 or 500 ships of more than 1,000 tons enter and leave the Shaobo Lock everyday. Although the number is big, the site is in order. With the support of the intelligent system, the crew can go through the formalities of the lock in one minute, easily realizing "one cellphone in hand, no worries in mind".
In order to improve the energy consumption structure and reduce the energy consumption and carbon emission of coal power, Shaobo Lock promotes the trial and use of clean solar lamp and renewable energy, pilot the construction of ecological lock and green lock, and explores the roof distributed photovoltaic project to generate electricity by using solar energy.
In the downstream of the Shaobo Lake, there is a 40.4-meter-high lighthouse with a red color and three layers of white lotus petals, which is Shaobo Lake Lighthouse. It is not only novel and eye-catching, but also has a sightseeing platform and a green square around it. It is a good place for citizens with beautiful scenery and pleasant environment to visit. It also becomes another landmark to the Yangzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
Reprinted from: China Transportation News Network