Three Gorges Dam Benefits – Navigation

The Three Gorges Project includes a coagulation gravity type dam, water release gate, a dike hydropower station, a permanent navigation ship lock and a ship lifting machine. Among these elements, the ship lock and ship lifting are helpful for navigation on the Yangtze River, After the Three Gorges Dam built, the amount of goods and passengers passing through the ship locks increased, and the cost of transportation decreased. Now, navigation benefit - one of most important Three Gorges Dam benefits - is more and more obvious.

Three Gorges Dam Benefits – Introduction of Three Gorges Dam

The Three Gorges Project is located on the conjunction place of the upstream and down stream of the Yangtze River. The geographical position is unique. For upstream, it can channelize the river course from Sandouping to Chongqing; for downstream, it can increase the flow rate of middle stream of the Yangtze River below Gezhouba Dam in dry season. It can more fully improve the navigation condition between Chongqing and Wuhan, to meet the development need of upstream and middle stream of the Yangtze River.

The ship lifting of Three Gorges is distributed on the left bank of Three Gorges Dam, which mainly used for offering a fast passage of 'lift style passing by the dam". It will become effective supplement of bidirectional five stages ship locks "stair style passing by the dam". It will greatly improve the efficiency of passing by the Three Gorges Dam.

Three Gorges Dam Benefits – Five Benefits on Navigation

After the Three Gorges Dam built, ten thousands tons ships can directly reach Hankow and Shanghai from Chongqing.

The annual unidirectional navigation capacity from Chongqing to Hankow reached 100 million tons. The passing dam goods amount reached 50 million tons.

The Three Gorges Dam makes the transportation cost on the Yangtze River decreased 35 percents to 37 percents.

The Three Gorges Dam makes the shipping industry on the main stream and several big anabranches of the Yangtze River get great development.

After the Three Gorges Dam built, the river course would not be blocked if there is serious collapse or landslide on the both banks.

The Three Gorges Project includes a coagulation gravity type dam, water release gate, a dike hydropower station, a permanent navigation ship lock and a ship lifting machine. Among these elements, the ship lock and ship lifting are helpful for navigation on the Yangtze River, After the Three Gorges Dam built, the amount of goods and passengers passing through the ship locks increased, and the cost of transportation decreased. Now, navigation benefit - one of most important Three Gorges Dam benefits - is more and more obvious.