This year’s Spring Festival travel rush saw a 29% year-on-year increase in cargo throughput at the Changzhou Ship Lock on the Xijiang Navigation Trunk Line.

　　China News Service, Guangzhou, March 14 - According to statistics released by the Pearl River Navigation Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Transport on the 14th, as of March 13, the 2026 Spring Festival transportation on the Xijiang shipping trunk line has successfully concluded. The key node, Changzhou Ship Lock, saw a cumulative passage of 9,648 ships and 18.25 million tons of cargo during the Spring Festival, representing year-on-year increases of 27% and 29%, respectively.

　　During the Spring Festival, the natural water inflow in the Xijiang River Basin remained consistently low, limiting navigation conditions. The Pearl River Navigation Bureau actively collaborated with relevant units to fully utilize the "three major mechanisms" of ensuring smooth navigation on the Xijiang shipping trunk line, maintaining smooth passage for ships waiting at locks, and coordinating flood control, drought relief, and typhoon prevention. Before the Spring Festival, efforts were made to ensure that shipowners could return home smoothly and that key livelihood materials were transported without hindrance. After the Spring Festival, efforts were made to accelerate the resumption of water transport operations. Multiple measures were taken, and collaborative efforts were made to focus on maintaining the navigation order of the Xijiang water transport corridor during key periods. This effectively reduced the number of ships waiting at the Changzhou Ship Lock from a peak of 676 to 59 recently, ensuring that the Xijiang shipping trunk line remained navigable, safe, and orderly.

　　It is reported that the Pearl River Navigation Bureau will continue to leverage the coordination and linkage mechanism, gather collective efforts, deepen the implementation of major risk and hazard investigations and rectifications for safety production during the flood and summer seasons, strengthen special rectifications for the safety of navigation hub dams, and urge relevant units to implement flood and typhoon prevention measures. This will ensure the safety and smoothness of the Xijiang "Golden Waterway" and contribute to the high-quality development of the economy and society along the river. (Guo Jun, Hu Simin)