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8,000 stranded ships to steer out in 3 days

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-19 21:30

Cargo vessels steer through river course in Changxing, east China's Zhejiang province Wedensday August 19, 2009. [Xinhua]

8,000 stranded ships on east China waterway to be dispersed in three days

HANGZHOU: About 8,000 stranded cargo ships and boats on a river course connecting Zhejiang Province to Shanghai will be dispersed in three days, local shipping administration officials said Wednesday.

The river course has been reopened Wednesday after a 14-day closure due to high water levels.

Related readings:  8,000 ships stranded on east China waterway  1,000 still stranded as Taiwan storm aid arrives  Power failure strands Shanghai subway riders  Fog strands more than 300 ships in Shanghai  Heavy fog strands 16,000 in W China

The bottleneck on the Changxing-Huzhou-Shanghai river course, the worst in a decade, extends 40 km.

"We plan to disperse about 3,000 ships a day. The river course will resume in three days," said Zhou Shiquan, chief of the maritime affairs section of Huzhou Ports and Shipping Administration.

Until now, the water level between upstream and downstream was less than 30 cm, and the water speed was 5 km per hour. The speed is safe enough for empty ships to sail, but slightly faster for loaded cargos.

Huzhou Ports and Shipping Administration will try to disperse the empty boats first, an official from local shipping administration said.

Among the stranded ships, about 6,000 are empty and another 2,000 are loaded.

Typhoon Morakot dumped torrential rains in the area, causing flooding on local rivers and lakes.

The river course is 145 km long and carries 80 percent of coal used for generating electricity in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai.