A South Korean cargo ship that allegedly spilled phenol into the Yangtze river causing water pollution was detained and the owners of the vessel could face trial. The Wuhan Maritime Court, which has jurisdiction over the waters in the region, ordered the detention of the cargo ship Gloria, which was docked at the city of Nantong in Jiangsu province in early Feburary. Bail of CNY20.6 million has been set. The ship spilled the chemical into the river through underwater pipes. A court official said the shipping company would not face trial if a compensation agreement was reached with the local water supply company. The ship, which on February 2 was docked in Zhenjiang, leaked phenol on February 2 and 3 due to a faulty valve. Following the leak residents of Zhenjiang, a city of 3 million people, reported that their tap water had a pungent smell. The drinking water supply returned to normal on February 4.

Throughput at the Three Gorges Dam exceeded 100 million tons last year ― the first time since it became operational in 2003. The annual throughput of the dam has risen by 17% since then.

In the next 20 years, China will spend more than CNY200 billion upgrading river transport infrastructure as it seeks to boost domestic trade amid weakening export demand from the West. Deputy Transport Minister Xu Zuyuan said that expanding river transport was a major focus of the development of the shipping sector. For the 12th Five Year Plan to 2015, Beijing had prepared a CNY45 billion fund to expand waterways and invest in river ports in central and western regions, Xu said. CNY5 billion was also set aside to standardize river shipping. “Investing CNY45 billion in waterways will lighten the burden on roads. For example, when ships can’t pass through the Xi river [in Guangdong] in the dry season, the roads get congested,” said Xu. He called on local governments to increase their investments in waterways. Hunan’s government this month launched a CNY170 billion plan to invest in expanding the landlocked province’s river infrastructure over the next 20 years. To build waterways and ports, Hunan has budgeted CNY68 billion for the next 10 years and CNY102 billion for the following decade. Of the planned CNY170 billion of investment, CNY132.7 billion will be injected into waterways, including the Yangtze river and Xiang river, while CNY34 billion will be invested in ports such as Yueyang and Changsha. On November 23, Shandong province published its plan to accelerate river transport, under which CNY14 billion will be invested by 2015. The province plans to renovate and build 350 kilometers of waterways to increase the length of Shandong’s navigable waterways to 1,500 km by 2015, with throughput capacity exceeding 70 million tons and shipping capacity reaching 8.8 million DWT. Shandong plans to complete a network of waterways linking the Pacific Ocean with rivers by 2020. This includes expanding the capacity of the Grand Canal from Hangzhou to Beijing to accommodate 2,000-ton ships. Transporting goods along the Yangtze river is at least 50% cheaper than by road. On October 27, Gansu province announced plans to construct 654 km of waterways to extend the landlocked province’s navigable waterways to 1,010 km by 2015, and to further extend them to 1,346 km by 2020, the South China Morning Post reports.

China is facing a raft of challenges in developing the Yangtze River as a key route to facilitate the growth of its central and western regions, according to Bronson Hsieh, Vice Chairman of Taiwan’s Evergreen Group, including the need to improve the river’s navigability and to develop multimodal transport facilities. Cargo volumes at inland ports had been growing faster than at coastal ones. Last year, inland ports saw an 18.1% increase to 2.6 billion tons in freight, compared to a 15.3% rise to 5.5 billion tons of cargo at sea ports, he said, quoting Ministry of Communications figures. Liu Xihan, President of Sinotrans & CSC Holdings, said 1.3 billion tons were handled by ports along the Yangtze last year. This is expected to rise to 1.7 billion tons by 2020. Hsieh said traffic on the Yangtze would “run smoother only if the Jingjiang section [could] be improved”, referring to the 347-kilometer stretch from Zhicheng in Hubei province to Chenglingji in Hunan. The section often experienced clogged shipping, especially during the dry season when low water levels limited the size of ships that could travel on the river. Hsieh also said there was a lack of investment to improve the navigability of the Yangtze, with the funds spent on river improvements just 3.6% of the amount spent on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway under the 11th Five Year Plan. About 80% of China’s cargo is transported by road, which is partly why logistics costs – at 18% of China’s gross domestic product (GDP) – are high, according to Hsieh. In contrast, the cost of moving cargo in the United States and Europe accounts for about 9% of their GDP. Hsieh says only 3% of China’s domestic cargo is packed in containers, while transshipment volumes from water to railways account for just 2% of total port throughput. He added the volume of containerized domestic freight and intermodal cargo transfers through ports were “commonly above 30% in developed countries”.

China suspended shipping on the Mekong river following the hijacking of two cargo ships in the “Golden Triangle,” where the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet. 13 Chinese crew on the two ships were killed by a drug trafficking ring operating on the river. A total of 116 of the 130 ships engaged in international shipping on the river are operated by Chinese companies, the Lancang River Maritime Affairs Bureau said. Border troops recaptured the two ships and seized some 951,000 methamphetamine pills after a gunfight with the drug traffickers. The gang demands protection money from ships it hijacks on the Mekong and kills crew members who refuse to cooperate. Guo Zhiqiang, a part owner of one of the ships, the Yu Xing 8, said it never occurred to him that the boat “would be attacked like that” though he knew the river was not safe. Guo’s boat is Myanmar-registered but all the crew were Chinese. Following the incident, dozens of Chinese sailors returned to China from northern Thailand under the escort of a Chinese patrol ship. Eleven cargo boats with 78 sailors on board returned to Guanlei port in Xishuangbanna prefecture, Yunnan province. In total, 164 sailors had been living aboard 26 ships on the Mekong river in Thailand’s Chiang Saen district since China suspended shipping in the wake of the attack. The remaining 15 ships were on their way to Guanlei port, Xinhua reported. Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Towijakchaikul proposed joint escort operations from China, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar on the Mekong to ensure shipping safety.