High Quality Development Research Tour | Yichang, Hubei: Developing Green Shipping to Protect the Beautiful Yangtze River Operation and Maintenance | Personnel | Yangtze River
Wuhan, August 7th, Xinhua News Agency - Yichang, Hubei: Developing Green Shipping to Protect the Beautiful Yangtze River
Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Zichen and Cui Junjie
At the beginning of the lantern festival, the two banks of the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei Province shine brightly. Taking the "Yangtze River Three Gorges 1" ferry for a night tour of the Yangtze River, one cannot smell the pungent smell of oil fumes or hear the noisy roar, only the gentle river breeze and picturesque night.
On August 4th, tourists went to take the Yangtze River Three Gorges 1 ferry. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Zhizun
![High Quality Development Research Tour | Yichang, Hubei: Developing Green Shipping to Protect the Beautiful Yangtze River Operation and Maintenance | Personnel | Yangtze River](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/3e0ae8cbefc541662605e874e4ec34c9.jpg)
The Yangtze River Three Gorges 1 is a pure electric cruise ship with a range of over 100 kilometers on a single charge. According to data from State Grid Yichang Power Supply Company, the total electricity consumption of this cruise ship reached 690000 kilowatt hours from January to July this year. Compared to conventional fuel powered ships of the same type, it is equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by over 500 tons.
Liu Jun, the relevant person in charge of Yichang Transportation Yangtze River Cruise Co., Ltd., said that "Yangtze River Night Tour" deeply integrates urban landscape, hydropower culture, Three Gorges characteristics, and night leisure, and has become a beautiful business card of Yichang tourism.
Yichang, located at the boundary point between the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, is the location of water conservancy hubs such as the Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba, as well as an ecologically sensitive area in the Yangtze River Basin and a transportation hub for the Yangtze River. About 50000 ships pass through this gate every year, and during the navigation and waiting period, they produce sewage, garbage, noise, exhaust gas, etc. The task of pollution control is relatively heavy.
In recent years, Yichang has vigorously promoted the construction of dock shore power and the application of new energy ships to promote pollution control at the source. As of now, 168 shore power facilities have been built in more than 60 docks along the Yangtze River in Yichang. Li Xingheng, a shore power operation and maintenance service personnel at State Grid Yichang Power Supply Company, introduced that since the Yichang shore power project was put into operation in May 2019, it has provided a total of 29.39 million kilowatt hours of clean shore power for 19000 ships. Green shore power has become the main source of power for ships during the waiting period.
![High Quality Development Research Tour | Yichang, Hubei: Developing Green Shipping to Protect the Beautiful Yangtze River Operation and Maintenance | Personnel | Yangtze River](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/a9c8283ed5af5ae35ffab955730329af.jpg)
On August 4th, the shore power operation and maintenance personnel of State Grid Yichang Power Supply Company inspected the operation status of the shore power system's dedicated grounding wire on the Zigui Port power supply barge. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Zhizun
While implementing the policy of replacing oil with electricity to reduce air and noise pollution, the transportation department actively promotes the cleaning and transportation of ship oil wastewater, domestic sewage, and household waste.
At Zigui Port located upstream of the Three Gorges Dam, the "Century Legend" ship is slowly berthing, and Yichang Ship Pollutant Reception and Transfer Zigui Service Area has received an order at the same time. Originally, the crew of the cruise ship applied for on-site garbage collection services through a mobile mini program. The service area will soon arrange a pollutant receiving ship to go to the service. About half an hour later, the domestic sewage and garbage inside the "Century Legend" ship were cleared and transported.
Wang Ming, Chief Engineer of Yichang Transportation Bureau, told reporters that in the past, ships used to directly dump sewage and garbage into the river, affecting the water quality of the Yangtze River. To this end, Yichang City, in collaboration with relevant departments, has built 12 pollutant receiving docks upstream and downstream of the Three Gorges Dam, promoting the closed-loop management of ship based classification storage of pollutants, port based classification reception and transportation, and onshore utilization and disposal.
![High Quality Development Research Tour | Yichang, Hubei: Developing Green Shipping to Protect the Beautiful Yangtze River Operation and Maintenance | Personnel | Yangtze River](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/0555bce7312e54a627f86d0b0d88629a.jpg)
On August 4th, the ship docked at the port of Zigui. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Zhizun
The series of measures to develop green shipping have brought visible results, such as clearer water, greener shores, and more finless porpoises. Data shows that the water quality of the Yichang section of the Yangtze River main stream reached the Class II standard last year, and the Yangtze River dolphin, known as the "indicator organism" of the ecological environment in the Yangtze River Basin, has been living in Yichang for a long time, with a steady increase in its population.