Not much to add to my Blog of 5th May other than a picture.
The maximum vessel size is 10,000 tons and the locks are 280 m long, 35 m wide, and 5 m deep (918 x 114 x 16.4ft.). The total capacity of the ship locks is expected to reach 100 million tonnes per year. In addition two ship lifts (You can see them by the tower cranes in my blog on 5th May 2012) are currently under construction designed to raise craft of up to 3000 tons 110 metres in a single lift with the transit only taking 40 minutes compared with the 5 hours for the locks.
The last ship lift I saw in action was 44 years ago at Henrichenburg that facilitates a change in elevation of the Dortmund-Ems-Kanal in Waltrop-Oberwiese. I was on a 6-month work experience as part of my ‘thick sandwich’ degree working for Hoesch AG and iron and steel maker that was longer ago absorbed into some other global steel making enterprise.
We merged into the vast lake above the dam at dusk and I must admit I had to rush to get ready for the Captains welcome party. Captain Xin Bin Huang looked about 22 – but then all Chinese do look very young – but in fact has many years of experience in navigating the Yangtze. Not surprisingly there is a rigorous training programme and test to obtain a river captain’s certificate.
After dinner many of the crew became models for a Minority Costumes Show. If you remember I had commented on the minority costumes in the Shanghai museum. A colourful and entertaining evening followed by an early bed after another exhausting but thoroughly enjoyable day and a 110 metres higher in the world!!
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