Shanghai announced Monday that the Yangtze River estuary waterway has now been dredged to a depth of nine metres, two months ahead of schedule.

"It significantly increases the capability of the Shanghai port and other important ports along the Yangtze River," said Zhang Yunlong, deputy director of Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration.

Ships will now be able to pass through the newly deepened estuary, which has a width of 350 to 400 metres.

When the second phase of the deep-draught channel of the Yangtze estuary is finished by the end of next year, its depth will be 10 metres.

"By then, fourth- and fifth-generation container ships will be able to come in and out freely at high tide," Zhang said.

The three-year project will cost 6.34 billion yuan (US$765 million).

Aiming to become the world's largest shipping centre by 2020, Shanghai has been squeezed between increasing cargo flow and limited capacity.

Shanghai is now the world's third-largest container port and fourth-largest port overall, driven by the rapid development of foreign trade in the Yangtze River Delta as well as in the vast mainland.

The port of Shanghai has experienced explosive growth in the past decade.

In 2003, Shanghai recorded a nearly 20 per cent year-on-year increase in cargo to 316 million tons. It handled 11.3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit), 134 per cent of its designed capacity.

Xu Peixing, director of the Shanghai Municipal Port Administration, estimates that this year's volume will exceed 13 million TEUs.

Reports from the Ministry of Communications estimate that the port will handle 25 million TEUs a year by 2010, more than double the figure for last year.

However, the depth of the Yangtze River estuary waterway, the gateway linking China's longest and most important river network to the East China Sea, has constrained large cargo ships.

Starting in 1998, the government launched a project to dredge the waterway.

Upon the completion of the first phase of the project in 2001, the depth of waterway was increased to 8.5 metres from seven metres.

When the planned third stage is completed after the second stage, the depth of the waterway will reach 12.5 metres.

Jin Lin, deputy general manager of Yangtze Estuary Waterway Construction Co Ltd, the project's builder, said that present technology would make construction goals feasible.

Officials also say it is important to dredge the bed of the Yangtze River from Shanghai to Nanjing, to fully realize the capacity of the river.

Source: China Daily