The main project for the Gezhouba shipping capacity expansion has commenced.

On October 10, the upstream and downstream cofferdams for the new Three Gorges navigation channel project at the Gezhou Dam officially began construction. These two cofferdams, together with the slopes, will enclose the construction area, creating the necessary conditions for the dry-ground construction of the new 10,000-tonne locks. With this, the expansion of navigation capacity at the Gezhou Dam has fully entered the main construction phase.

The Gezhou Dam navigation expansion project is located on the left bank of the Gezhou Dam hub. It will involve the removal of the existing No. 3 lock and the construction of two new 10,000-tonne locks at the same site. In the future, a single 10,000-tonne vessel will be able to pass smoothly through the Gezhou Dam hub. The cofferdams are the first crucial milestone in the construction of the Gezhou Dam navigation expansion. Simply put, cofferdams are water-blocking structures built in the river to enclose the lock construction area. Once the water in the foundation pit is drained, construction workers can carry out operations such as dismantling the old lock and excavating and pouring the new lock as if they were on land. The upstream cofferdam is a Grade I temporary hydraulic structure, with flood control standards matching the main dam of the Gezhou Dam. It has a total length of 835.9 meters, a maximum height of 28 meters, a total construction period of 24 months, an excavation volume of approximately 518,000 cubic meters, and a fill volume of approximately 1.015 million cubic meters. The downstream cofferdam is composed of a concrete cofferdam, a steel pipe pile cofferdam, an earth-rock cofferdam, and a rocky ridge cofferdam, with a total length of 960.9 meters.

After the cofferdam construction begins, a green waterway corridor will form between the new Three Gorges hub channel and the Gezhou Dam. The large amount of fill material required for the cofferdam will be transported by ship from the preparation and processing facility at Wayaoping in the dam area via the Letianxi Dock, directly downstream to the construction site at the Gezhou Dam.

During the construction of the Gezhou Dam navigation expansion project and before the new locks are completed, the No. 1 and No. 2 locks of the Gezhou Dam will remain operational, ensuring that the basic passage capacity of Yangtze River shipping is not affected.