Evening mist hangs heavy over the Jinsha shore; Bright lights along the river gleam and pour. Ships in turn ascend the lift's steep height;A hundred days have made this waterway a splendid sight.

As of June 8, 2026, the Xiangjiaba Ship Lift successfully achieved 24-hour uninterrupted navigation for a full 100 days. The Jinsha River—this "main artery" of water transport connecting Sichuan and Yunnan with the mainline of the Yangtze River—has since officially entered a new stage of all-weather, efficient, and smooth development.

Efficiency Improvement: A Direct Manifestation of Mode Switch

The new all-weather navigation model has successfully resolved long-standing bottlenecks, including vessel congestion, excessive lock waiting times, and limited throughput capacity. Since night navigation commenced on March 1, the ship lift has completed 1,279 lockages and processed 1,186 vessels over the past 100 days—up 14% and 11% year-on-year, respectively. This has further bolstered the carrying capacity and operational efficiency of the Jinsha River waterway, while cutting transit times and overall logistics costs for bulk cargo along the route. Leveraging these time-efficiency gains, multimodal connections between Sichuan and Yunnan have grown considerably smoother, injecting fresh momentum into industrial integration and coordinated regional development along the river.

Reliable Equipment: A Solid Support for Safe Operation

All-weather navigation imposes higher standards and requirements on equipment operational stability, on-site control precision, and emergency response capability. To bolster safety for night navigation, the Xiangjiaba Hydropower Plant under CYPC made thorough preparations well in advance. In February, the Plant successfully completed the first phase of this year's planned outage maintenance for the ship lift, and also completed the optimization and upgrade of 14 programs for the ship lift's computer monitoring system and local control stations, further enhancing the system's safety performance. Additionally, the Plant upgraded the support measures for night navigation operations, optimized equipment operating conditions, dynamically adjusted staff shift schedules, and refined the emergency response plans for nighttime navigation. Through strict and standardized full-process closed-loop management, the Plant ensures the safe and smooth passage of every vessel through the dam.

Talented Personnel: The Core Foundation for Steady and Long-term Progress

A high-caliber talent team is the core foundation for the stable and long-term operation of all-weather navigation. Xiangjiaba Hydropower Plant has accumulated experience, refined skills, and tempered its work style through all-weather navigation practices, cultivating a mature operation and maintenance team adapted to continuous day-and-night operations through hands-on practice. In 2025, the Plant made significant strides in both professional talent development and technological innovation. Key achievements included securing 13 electrician professional certifications, advancing 7 key research projects, and obtaining 35 authorized patents. The Plant also received multiple industry accolades, notably the First-Class Award for Quality Technology Innovation in the water conservancy and hydropower sector. These accomplishments have firmly established the intellectual and technical foundation necessary for the long-term safe, stable, and reliable operation of the ship lift.

A hundred days of night navigation mark our commitment to the original aspiration and the start of a new journey. Moving forward, Xiangjiaba Hydropower Plant will focus on enhancing equipment O&M capabilities, cultivating a high-caliber workforce, and strictly enforcing safety protocols. By maximizing the all-weather operational efficiency of the ship lift, the Plant aims to fully unlock the potential of the Jinsha River as a golden waterway, thereby driving the high-quality development of water transport in the upper Yangtze region.