Minjiang Dongfengyan Hydropower Hub Ship Lock enters construction phase for navigation.

On October 24, the ship lock of the Minjiang Dongfengyan Navigation and Hydropower Hub Project officially started navigation during its construction period. It took only 14 months from the first concrete pouring of the ship lock on August 18, 2025, to the completion and navigation of the ship lock during the construction period, setting a new national record for the construction of similar navigation and hydropower hub ship locks.

As an important milestone in implementing the three-year concentrated action plan for the revitalization and development of waterway transportation in Sichuan Province, the opening of the Dongfengyan ship lock to navigation will provide more convenient and economical transportation methods for bulk goods such as ore, building materials, and chemical products along the route and the hinterland. It will effectively reduce the overall logistics cost of the Chengdu Plain Economic Zone, facilitate the adjustment of the "road-to-water" transportation structure, strengthen waterway support for port industrial layout and industrial belt agglomeration along the river, and promote economic development in the Yangtze River and Minjiang River basins.

The Dongfengyan Navigation and Hydropower Hub is located in Jinzu Town, Wutongqiao District, Leshan City. It is the second tier of the 162-kilometer river segment from Leshan to Yibin on the Minjiang River being developed for navigation and hydropower purposes, involving the canalization of a 14.7-kilometer Class III waterway. The project prioritizes shipping while combining hydropower generation and guaranteeing water supply. It is a key transportation infrastructure project in Sichuan Province as well as an important green energy project. The Dongfengyan ship lock is a Class III single-line lock with chamber dimensions of 220 meters × 34 meters × 4.5 meters, and a designed annual one-way throughput capacity of 15.21 million tons.

During the construction process, the project team faced multiple challenges, such as construction during the flood season of the Minjiang River, navigation and transportation assurance, and temperature control of large-scale concrete works. Using the construction of a smart construction site as a focal point, the team integrated BIM technology, tower crane safety monitoring, intelligent water-cooled temperature control for large-scale concrete, and other methods to implement fully digital control of key construction processes. The project adhered to the concept of "construction without interrupting navigation," scientifically coordinating the right bank's diversion and ensuring safety throughout the flood season, thereby minimizing adverse effects of the flood season on project progress. Since 2026, they have successively completed the topping of the upper and lower gates of the ship lock, installation and debugging of 13 radial gates and hoists on the right bank spillway, and flow tests for the ship lock and spillway gates. By October 24, navigation during the construction period officially began, with all critical milestones successfully achieved, one following another.

Following the deployment requirements of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government to promote the development of the province's river basin economy and implement the "Three-Year Campaign for Waterway Construction," Sichuan Port Investment Group's Minjiang Company is coordinating the construction of the second phase of the tiered projects, including Laomukong, Dongfengyan, Longxikou, and channel improvement projects. By 2030, the entire 162-kilometer waterway from Leshan to Yibin on the Minjiang River will meet Class III standards. This will allow year-round navigation for 1,000-ton ships and passage of 3,000-ton ships during high water periods. Thousands of tons of cargo ships will be able to travel upstream from the Yangtze River's main trunk through Yibin directly to Leshan, further enhancing the transportation links between cities along the route such as Leshan and Yibin and the Chengdu Plain Economic Zone and the Southern Sichuan Economic Zone.

Next, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Transportation will seize the opportunity of the "Six Networks" construction, spare no effort to implement the "Three-Year Campaign for Waterway Construction," strengthen project coordination, scheduling, and follow-up supervision, promote the orderly implementation of projects based on timeline targets, accelerate efforts to address shortcomings in waterway development, better leverage the support role of waterway transportation in river basin economic development, foster upstream and downstream collaboration, and enable industrial synergy and complementarity, thereby injecting new momentum into the coordinated development of the province's "Five Zones."