An “important battle” of solving the transport congestion on the Yangtze River golden waterway is well underway along the reaches of Yangtze River in Xiaoting District stretching 100 km, which threw people’s mind back to “Yiling Battle”, a classic battle breaking out in Xiaoting during the Three Kingdoms Period.
　　Yichang, home of Three Gorges Project, was called Yiling in ancient time, which is about 600 kilometers away from both Chongqing and Wuhan. It is known as “Throat between Sichuan province and Hubei province” for connecting Bashu (now regions in Chongqing city and Sichuang Province) with Jinzhou and Xiangyang, and it is also the general gate in the upper reaches of Yangtze River “golden waterway”.
　　The construction of TGP raised the water level of the upper reaches of Yangtze River, thus creating a smooth channel to go upstream to Sichuan province. The fundamental change in the shipping conditions in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the drastic increase in its shipping capacity made it possible for  10000-ton class vessels to Chongqing without transfer. By 2030, this golden waterway will be confronted with a new “obstruction” when the Three Gorges Lock fails far to meet the lockage need, predicted by the Yangtze River Navigation Department
　　The new logistic obstruction along the Yangtze River golden waterway urgently needs to be solved. This task plays a crucial role in carrying out the strategy of creating a new Yangtze River Economic Belt which relies on the Yangtze River golden waterway and the exchange of logistics between the East and the West. Against the backdrop of the national policy of upgrading the Yangtze River Economic Belt, it takes top priority to accelerate the construction of Dam-climbing transportation in Yichang section of the Yangtze River and to expand the capacity of transshipment cargo through section of the Three Gorges Dam for realizing the national strategy.
　　The Three Gorges Water Transport Hub Port Project is put on the agenda.
　　In January 2014, the Development Plan of Three Gorges Hub Port was approved by Yichang Municipal Government Executive Meeting, where the concept of "one axis + two wings + nine districts + one center" was put forward to accelerate the construction of Three Gorges Hub Port, which indicates that the hub port will take the Yangtze River as its axis of development, the Qingjiang River and the Xiangxi River as two wings for shipping development, the nine operation areas (including Maoping Town, Taipingxi Town, Honghuatao Town, Yunchi Port, Baiyang Town, Tianjiahe Port, Zhicheng Town, Qixingtai Town, Xiakou Town) as well as the Yangtze River Three Gorges International Cruise Centre as focus.
　　A total investment of the project is about 48.3 billion yuan, of which the investment of the new port is about 24.4 billion yuan. According to the plan, with the four functions of Dam-climbing transshipment port, industrial delivery port, Three Gorges tourism port, export harbor for western region as its highlights, the hub port is intended as a cluster port along the Yangtze River Economic Corridor with Gross Output Value over One Trillion, an unimpeded transshipment port of Three Gorges shipping and a featured port of the city agglomeration in middle reaches of Yangtze River.    
　　Moreover, to ensure the function of the Three Gorges Hub Port, Yichang is accelerating the construction of transportation artery along the Yangtze River and boosting the construction of Trans-dam Expressway in northern area of the Yangtze River and the Yiyue (Yichang-Yueyang) Expressway to realize the connection between Dam-climbing port and the Hurong (Shanghai-Chengdu) Railway, Huyu (Shanghai-Chongqing) Railway, Yiwan (Yichang-Wanzhou) Railway and other thoroughfares along the Yangtze River; it is also accelerating the vertical stretch by promoting the construction of the Baoyi (Baokang-Yichang) Expressway, the Yizhang (Yichang-Zhangjiajie) Expressway, the Yilai (Yidu-Laifeng) Expressway, the Shengchang (Shennongjia-Changyang) Expressway, and upgrading Hohhot-Beihai 241 State Road, as well as starting the Zhengyu (Zhengzhou-Chongqing) Railway and the Yishi (Yichang-Shimen) Railway. All the measures will address the constraints of "last mile" for port development to complete the connection between the central ports and highways and railways. It is promoting co-development of both sides of Yangtze River through accelerating the construction of the Xiangxi Yangtze River Bridge, Baiyang Yangtze River Bridge and the Miaozui Yangtze River Bridge.
　　"Yichang has established a strategic development goals of building a well-developed port with handling capacity over one hundred million tons, creating golden waterway & golden channel, invigorating Yichang through the port, promoting the development of both the city and the port." It is said by Yang Weihua, deputy secretary-general of Yichang Municipal Government, Yichang will strive to create a regional transportation junction over the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River.
　　According to the plan, Yichang will have formed a basic framework of new port district with "four zones and one center" by 2015 when the port handling capacity will reach 90 million tons and the container handling capability 1,000,000 TEUs, which will enable the water transport to meet 50% of shipping demands among domestic ports, 70% of foreign trade shipping. From metaphase to 2020, coordinated development of port logistics, shipping services and port industry will be formed, the construction of the new port district will be completed as planned and the function will be elementarily realized. In that time, the port handling capacity will reach 150 million tons and the container handling capability 2,000,000 TEUs, which will enable water transport to meet 70% of shipping demands among domestic ports, 90% of foreign trade shipping.
　　The construction of the Three Gorges Dam Logistics Industrial Park is now in full swing. Yu Zhixun, Vice Mayor of Zigui County which is the first county after the completion of TGP said "Industrial Park has been identified as a basic platform of Zigui’s \'Logistics Prospers County\' strategy." And he added “the completion of Three Gorges Hub Port will achieve the annual output value of over a hundred billion which will greatly boost the economic development of the reservoir area and bring employment and wealth to immigrants.”
　　In the future, more areas along the Yangtze River Economic Belt will benefit from the “golden waterway” and be turned into a “golden economic belt”. (From Yichang site of Xinhua News, correspondent Li Siyuan and Liang Jianqiang, Oct 30th)