China News Service, Beijing, February 21st. The Three Gorges North Line Ship Lock and Gezhouba No. 1 Ship Lock will simultaneously implement planned suspension for maintenance starting at 8:00 on the 21st.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Yangtze Three Gorges Navigation Administration, the maintenance period of the North Line Ship Lock of the Three Gorges is 45 days, with a total of 39 major maintenance projects; the maintenance period of Gezhouba No. 1 Ship Lock is 40 days, with a total of 18 major maintenance projects.
On February 21, the 2024 planned shutdown of the Three Gorges North Line Ship Lock was officially launched. Photo by Wang Gang
In the early morning of that day, the North Line Ship Lock of the Three Gorges began to drain water. At present, the water body in the lock chamber has been drained, exposing part of the hydraulic structure. The staff is cleaning the residue inside the lock chamber.
The reporter saw at the maintenance site of Gezhouba No. 1 ship lock that the gate of the ship lock had been closed, the lock chamber started draining mode, and ships passed through Gezhouba No. 2 and No. 3 ship locks in an orderly manner.
On February 21, the Gezhouba No. 1 ship lock maintenance site. Photo by Lin Hai
During the overhaul of the two dams' ship locks, the Three Gorges South Line Ship Lock and Gezhouba No. 2 Ship Lock implement single-line (direction) operation with regular direction changes; Gezhouba No. 2 Ship Lock matches the operation of the Three Gorges South Line Ship Lock, and Gezhouba No. 3 Ship Lock matches the operation of the Three Gorges Ship Lift. Key urgent cargo ships, grain transport ships, container ships, demonstration ships, integrity ships and other key ships will be dispatched in accordance with the "Notice of the China Long Shipping Bureau on the Classified Arrangements for Ship Passing through the Lock during the Maintenance Period of the Three Gorges and Gezhouba Ship Locks in 2024".
It is understood that before the start of this overhaul, the Three Gorges Navigation Administration completed 38 pre-inspection and pre-maintenance projects and 10 implementation projects during the non-stop period before the overhaul, and also implemented ship lock reversal operations, strengthened linked water area management and control, optimized traffic organization, etc. This measure effectively alleviated the asymmetric backlog of ships above and below the dam before the overhaul.
The Three Gorges Ship Lock and Gezhouba Ship Lock have been operating safely, stably and efficiently for many years, and the ship lock equipment and facilities are operating at full capacity. The ship lock overhaul is a powerful measure to focus on solving problems such as equipment aging, defect treatment, and performance recovery.
The reporter also learned from China Three Gorges Corporation that compared with previous planned outages for maintenance, this time in addition to regular maintenance of herringbone doors and inverted arc doors, maintenance of metal structures of lock chambers, maintenance of hydraulic equipment and electrical systems, and anti-corrosion of bridge cranes and track beams In addition to other regular maintenance projects, new renovation projects such as centralized control systems and local control systems have also been added, which will further improve the operational safety of the Three Gorges Ship Lock. (over)