"Lifeline at sea" refers to the bypass of oversize ships.

Water transport, including inland river transport and ocean transport, is called the "ancestor" of transportation because of its long history. In the18th century, it played a major role in the production of transportation. Water transportation has the advantages of less investment, low cost, large freight volume and less land occupation. Good waterway capacity is almost unlimited, with good versatility, and can be used as the main undertaker of large, bulky and large-scale long-distance freight. The overall planning of inland river shipping construction, flood control, drainage, irrigation, power generation, fishery and tourism can achieve the effect of comprehensive development and utilization of natural resources. However, water transportation is greatly influenced by natural conditions. For example, some inland waterways and seaports can only be suspended due to freezing in winter, the direction of some inland waterways is often inconsistent with the economic requirements of transportation, and the water level of some inland waterways changes greatly, which affects the development of shipping interests. At present, comprehensive transportation has become the general trend of world transportation development, and the construction of modern comprehensive transportation network has created conditions for giving full play to the advantages of water transportation.

I. Shipping

Ocean transportation is the main way of foreign trade of various countries. According to the report published by UNCTAD,195, the world maritime freight volume reached a record 4.65 billion tons. The structural mode of maritime transportation is "port-route-port", which connects ports all over the world through international routes and ocean routes, and the transportation network formed by it plays an extremely important role in regional economic globalization and worldwide economic ties.

(A) the characteristics of the world shipping industry

Today's world shipping industry has the following characteristics:

1. For a long time, the world shipping market has been monopolized by a few developed countries and traditional maritime powers. By 1992, the maritime countries headed by the United States (including the United States, Japan, Norway, Greece, Russia and Italy) still controlled more than 60% of the world's merchant tonnage. However, in recent years, world shipping has begun to shift from developed maritime countries to newly industrialized countries and developing countries. For example, China (including Taiwan Province Province), South Korea, Singapore and other developing countries and regions are vigorously expanding the port scale, actively building and developing their own fleets, and striving to break the monopoly of developed countries on the international shipping market.

According to the statistics of world merchant ships, as of July 199 1, there were 80,030 merchant ships in the world, with a gross tonnage of 100, about 436 million gross tonnage and 684 million deadweight tons. There are 87 countries and regions with merchant ships exceeding 65,438+10,000 gross tonnage, and 45 countries and regions with merchant ships exceeding 1 10,000 gross tonnage. The top ten countries (regions) in the world merchant fleet are Liberia, Panama, Japan, the former Soviet Union, Norway, Greece, Cyprus, the United States, China (including Taiwan Province Province) and Bahamas. The tonnage of the merchant fleet of the above ten countries reached 275 million gross tons, accounting for 63% of the total tonnage of the world merchant fleet.

2. The focus of the international shipping market is shifting to the Asia-Pacific region. At the beginning of this century, the Atlantic monopolized 3/4 of the global shipping volume. It was not until the 1980s that this situation began to change greatly. With the rise of East Asian economy, the international shipping market has obviously moved eastward. At present, the Pacific Rim has controlled 40% of the global fleet capacity, among which the container load of East Asian ports is 1.6 1.79 million cases, accounting for 29% of the global total, while 1.994 has increased to 537.33 million cases, accounting for 43% of the global total. 1995, the container throughput of East Asian ports has reached 6/kloc-0.0 million cases, and its proportion in the world continues to expand. At present, four of the five largest ports in the world are "four small" ports in Asia, namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Kaohsiung and Busan (the other is Rotterdam, ranking fourth).

According to the analysis of 1994 on the top 20 liner companies in the world, it is pointed out that the liner companies (fleets) in the Far East have developed most rapidly. Among the top 20 liner companies, there are ten * * * companies in the Far East, among which five companies have entered the top ten, namely: Taiwan Province Evergreen Shipping Company (ranked second), China Ocean Shipping Group Company (ranked fourth) and Japan Post Company (ranked fourth). It is predicted that by the year 2000, the Far East shipping market will keep pace with the European Union market and the North American Free Trade Area market, each accounting for 65,438+0/4 of the world shipping market.

3. The flag ships of convenience are expanding day by day. In terms of the composition of flag ships of convenience, Japan, Greece, the United States and other developed countries have absolute advantages in tonnage.

According to the statistics of Lloyd's Register and the Greek Ministry of Shipping, there are 3 142 Greek ships with a gross tonnage of over 1000 registered in 1995, ranking first in the world with a gross tonnage of 7 1.67 million, among which there are 2 165 ships with a gross tonnage. According to the report of the U.S. Maritime Bureau, due to a large number of ships moving overseas, by 1995, only15 million tons was left in the merchant ships owned by American shipowners, which made the ranking of the United States drop from the sixth place in 1985 to the eighth place in 1990, and then dropped. According to the report of the Maritime Safety Administration of Japan's Ministry of Communications, the appreciation of the yen of 197 1 and the floating exchange rate system of 1973 led to a large number of Japanese flag ships moving overseas, and the proportion of Japanese flag ships in the Japanese fleet decreased from about 86% of 1969 to 5 1980.

The world-famous flag countries are Liberia, Panama, Cyprus, Malta, Bahamas and other countries. Liberia used to be the largest flag country in the world, but its status has declined in recent years due to the unstable domestic political situation. Panama has replaced Liberia as the largest flag of convenience country in the world, with a fleet size of about 654.38 billion tons.

(two) the world's major routes and ports.

According to the geographical environment structure, world shipping is divided into Pacific shipping area, Atlantic shipping area, Indian shipping area and Arctic shipping area. Its main routes and ports are described as follows.

1. Pacific Navigation Area The Pacific Ocean is located between Asia, America, Oceania and Antarctica, from Bering Strait to Ross Ice Barrier in Antarctica, with a length of about 159oo km from north to south, and from Panama to the crater isthmus of Indo-China Peninsula, with a maximum width of about 19900 km and an area of179.68 million square km. The southeast Pacific Ocean is connected with the Atlantic Ocean through the strait of magellan and Drake Strait at the southern tip of South America, and the Panama Canal in Central America is a convenient passage to connect the two oceans. The western Pacific Ocean is connected with the Indian Ocean through the strait between Oceania and Asia and the sea area between inland sea and Australia and Antarctica. Malacca Strait and Lombok Strait in Southeast Asia are important waterways connecting the two oceans.

The Pacific Ocean is an important ocean in the world. With the development of East Asia and the transfer of economic relations between the United States, Canada and other countries to the Pacific Ocean, the world shipping center is shifting from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The main Pacific routes are: (1) North Pacific route (consisting of routes from the Far East to the west coast of North America and the east coast of North America), (2) South Pacific route (from North America across the Pacific to Australia and New Zealand), (3) Far East-South America west coast route (from the south of the Hawaiian Islands in the Far East across the equator to the west coast of South America), (4) Far East-New Zealand route, and (5).

Major Pacific ports are Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Vladivostok, Dongfang Port, Nakhodka, Jinqing, Nanpu, Busan, Incheon, Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang, Hong Kong, Keelung, Kaohsiung, Manila and Haiphong. Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Dampier, Cape, Auckland, Wellington, Suva, Pago Pago, Lu Lu badminton, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, mazatlan, balboa, buenaventura, Guayaquil, callao, Antofagasta and Valparaiso on the west coast of America.

2. Atlantic Navigation Area The Atlantic Ocean is located between Europe, Africa, America and Antarctica, covering an area of 9.3 million square kilometers. It is the second largest ocean in the world. It communicates with the Pacific Ocean in the west through the Panama Canal, and enters the Indian Ocean in the east through the Strait of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. You can also enter the Indian Ocean from the southeast around the Cape of Good Hope.

The Atlantic Ocean has developed shipping and is the largest ocean in the world. The main routes are:

(1) North Atlantic route (connecting North America and European countries, with Suez Canal connecting the Indian Ocean route in the east, which is the route with the largest ship turnover in the world, and declined relatively after World War II), (2) Western Europe, the East Coast of North America-Caribbean Sea route, (3) Western Europe, the East Coast of North America-the Cape of Good Hope route, (4) the East Coast of South America-the Cape of Good Hope route,

The main ports along the Atlantic coast are Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Getansk, Szczecin, Stockholm, Malmo, Gothenburg, Oslo, Trenheim, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Rostock, Hamburg, Bremen, Port William, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Southampton, Dunkirk, le havre and Rouen. Genoa, Naples, Catania, Venice, Trieste, Rijeka, Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Varna, constanta, Odessa, Novorossiysk, Istanbul, Beirut, Tel Aviv, Port Said, Alexandria, Tripoli, Suetina, Tunisia, Algiers, Darbeda, Ruvakschott, Dakar, Conana. Boston, new york, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Miami, New Orleans, Houston, Veracruz, Cologne, maracaibo, La Guaira, Havana, Kingston, Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo, San Juan, St. Louis, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

3. Indian Ocean Navigation Area The Indian Ocean covers an area of 74.92 million square kilometers, making it the third ocean in the world. Being located between Asia, Africa and Oceania, and across the Mediterranean Sea from Europe, the Indian Ocean plays an important role in connecting the east and the west of the world, and is also the main route for oil export in the Middle East.

The main routes of this navigation area are the ocean route across the Indian Ocean and the route leading to oil-producing countries along the Persian Gulf. The east-west routes across the Indian Ocean have routes from Asia-Pacific and Oceania in the west and routes from Europe and Africa in the east, which are basically routes connecting the three oceans. In this group of routes, the Straits of Malacca at the eastern end and the Baoshiyu Canal at the western end are two hub locations. The Persian Gulf oil transportation route is westbound (via Suez Canal or Cape of Good Hope) to Europe and America, and eastbound (via Malacca Strait or Lombok) to the Asia-Pacific region.

The main seaports in the Indian Ocean are Yangon, Chittagong, Kolkata, Madras, Mumbai, Colombo, Karachi, Abadan, Kharg Island, Basra, FAO, Kuwait Port, Mahmoud Port, Dammam, Rastanura, Jeddah, Doha, Umm Said, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Muscat, Aden, Suez, Port Sudan, Djibouti and Mogadishu.

4. Arctic Ocean Navigation Area The Arctic Ocean is roughly centered at the north pole, between Asia, Europe and America, and is surrounded by three continents. The Bering Strait is connected with the Pacific Ocean between Asia and North America, and the Iceland-Faroe sill and Vivia Thomson Ridge between Europe and North America (between Iceland and Britain) are connected with the Atlantic Ocean. The Danish Strait and Smith Strait in the northeast of North America are connected with the Atlantic Ocean, with an area of 1, 365,438+10,000.

The Arctic Ocean is the apex of Asia, Europe and North America, and it has the shortest large arc route connecting the three continents. However, the weather is bad, most of the ocean is frozen all the year round, and the shipping of the Arctic Ocean is of little significance. At present, the main routes are the Arctic Ocean route from Murmanston to Vladivostok and the direct route from Murmansk to Svalbard, Reykjavik and London.

(3) Container transportation by sea

Container transportation, also known as container transportation, is the most important mode of cargo transportation in international trade. The specifications of international standard containers are 8 feet wide, 8 feet high, 20 feet long, 30 feet long and 40 feet long. Container transportation has many advantages, such as being conducive to the mechanization of port operations, thus improving loading and unloading efficiency, greatly shortening the time of ships in port, speeding up the turnover of ships, saving packaging costs, reducing cargo damage, facilitating the connection of different traffic lines and vehicles, and carrying out door-to-door transportation. Container transportation rose in the 1930s and developed after the war. The appearance of container transportation by sea makes container transportation flourish. At present, hundreds of countries and regions around the world have entered the container transportation network, with more than 400 container ports and more than 6,543,800 berths. According to relevant data, at the end of 1995, the world container fleet (more than 3,000 gross tons, container load 150TEU) totaled 2,092 ships, with a container capacity of 29.7 million TEUs. In the same year, the total volume of containers imported, exported and transited by global ports reached10.42 billion TEU, and all major shipping routes were containerized.

At present, the main container transportation areas in the world are the Far East, Western Europe, North America and Australia. These four areas have large freight volume and high consumption level, and the supply suitable for container transportation is sufficient. Container routes connecting these areas have become the main lines of global maritime container transportation, which are: North Pacific route, North Atlantic route and Far East-Europe route (Indian Ocean route).

The North Pacific route consists of the Far East-North America Pacific coast route and the Far East-North America Atlantic coast route. This route is the busiest in the world, which not only undertakes the cargo transportation near the Pacific coast, but also connects the ports along the Atlantic coast of North America, the Gulf Coast and the inland transportation to the Midwest of the United States. Contacted ports are Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe, Osaka, Busan, Incheon, Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Keelung and Singapore in the Asia-Pacific region; Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland (San Francisco), Seattle, Portland and Vancouver on the Pacific coast of North America; Houston, New Orleans, Tampa, Jacksonville, Norfolk, Philadelphia, new york, Boston, Halifax, St. John, etc. On the east coast of North America (including the Gulf Coast).

The North Atlantic route is centered on the east coast of the United States and consists of routes between the east coast of North America, the Great Lakes, Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, and carries out container transportation to Northwest Europe, the Mediterranean Sea and Australia (via the Indian Ocean). The ports connected with Europe mainly include Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp, le havre and Southampton.

The Far East-Europe route not only connects the Far East and European ports, but also connects the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.

In addition to the above three container routes, there are also Far East-Australia-New Zealand routes; Australia-New Zealand-North America and Europe, Mediterranean-West Africa and South Africa. The above six container transport trunk lines connect the world's major trade areas and form the skeleton of the world's maritime container transport network. Together with the container transport feeder lines distributed all over the world, they form a global container transport network. Trunk and feeder transport networks are connected through transit ports.

At present, the main transit ports of the world container shipping trunk lines are: Hongkong and Kaohsiung in the Far East, connecting Chinese mainland, the Philippines and Viet Nam; Singapore in Southeast Asia connecting Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia; The Cautrat in the Indian Ocean connects Myanmar, South Asian countries and East African coastal countries; Malta island in the Mediterranean, a port connecting the Mediterranean and the Black Sea coast; Puerto Rico and Jamaica connect the Caribbean and South American countries.

Second, inland river transportation.

It can be said that it is the same law in the world to make use of the natural advantages of river formation and develop river basin economy with shipping as the guide. During the industrial revolution, all the major capitalist countries in the world experienced river transport fever. At present, inland river transportation in developed countries is generally developed. Several famous navigable rivers in the world, such as Mississippi River, Rhine River, Volga River and Danube River, respectively represent the inland river transportation level of the United States, Western Europe, Russia (European part) and Eastern Europe.

1. The United States has made great progress in inland shipping. The United States is the most developed country in the transportation industry in the world. Although the proportion of inland river transportation in the national transportation structure is not the largest, such as 1992, which is only higher than domestic aviation, its freight turnover has reached 662.8 billion tons kilometers, ranking first in the world. In the history of the great development of transportation in the United States, according to the order of transportation modes, water transportation is the first.

America is a country with many rivers and lakes. There are 26 water systems, with a total navigation length of 42,000 kilometers and a coastline of 4,296 kilometers. Ocean-going ships can sail into the Great Lakes via the deepwater channel of St. Lawrence, which provides unique natural conditions for the development of American water transport. More than a century ago, the Great Lakes across the northern border of the United States connected many canals and natural rivers in the southern States of the United States through a huge water transport network, which played a huge role in domestic transportation in the United States.

In order to make full use of the convenience of water transportation, the United States began to build a large number of canals in its early years. From 18 17, the famous Erie Canal was built, and from 1909, it opened 7454 kilometers. The Erie Canal connects Buffalo at the eastern end of Lake Erie with Albany on the Hudson River. Therefore, cities along the lake, such as Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago, have developed rapidly, competing with older cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and New Orleans. Therefore, new york has developed rapidly, replacing Philadelphia as the largest foreign port in the United States. Since then, American states have set off a wave of building canals, and then Lake Erie is connected with the Ohio River through the canal, so that ships departing from new york can go directly to New Orleans, which is close to the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Before the era of large-scale railway construction in the United States (after the civil war), inland river and lake shipping was the main way of material exchange in the United States, especially the water transport in the Great Lakes, which played an important role in promoting the early economic development of the United States.

The United States has also developed the shipping industry of the Mississippi River through the regulation of the waterway of the Mississippi River for nearly a century, especially for nearly half a century. After the management of the Mississippi River system, the waterway has basically achieved unity and standardization. At present, the Mississippi River is of great shipping value. The whole system has a water depth of 2.75m1.000km and a total navigable waterway of 25,000m (water depth1.2m), forming a huge inland waterway system with the Mississippi River as the main trunk, connecting the Great Lakes in the north, the Atlantic Ocean through saint lawrence seaway, the Gulf of Mexico in the south and the rivers, lakes and seas. In the early 1980s, among the more than 40,000 kilometers of navigable rivers in the United States, 24,000 kilometers reached the water depth of 2.75 meters, and new dredging channel plans were being implemented one after another, thus promoting the continuous development of inland navigation.

The communication of waterways and the improvement of ships have doubled the water transport. Later, under the fierce competition of railway and highway transportation, the growth rate of water transportation began to slow down. However, after World War II, especially since the 1970s, due to the continuous application of modern technology (such as high-powered barge transportation and container transportation) to river transportation, the transportation efficiency has been improved and the competitiveness has been enhanced, which can be compared with aviation and road transportation, and the absolute volume of water transportation is still increasing.

In 1950, the cargo turnover of water transportation in the United States was 238.3 billion tons kilometers, and it increased to 662.8 billion tons kilometers in 1992, an increase of 1.78 times, in which the cargo turnover of Mississippi River increased from 45 billion tons kilometers in 1950 to 378 tons in 1992. Its freight volume was only 700 million tons in 1950, increased to1300,000 tons in 1960, reached 250 million tons in 1970, reached 560 million tons in 1980, tripled in 30 years, and continues to increase to about 650 million tons at present. The transportation volume of the Great Lakes has been enduring for a long time, and the cargo turnover 1992 has reached12.26 million ton-km.

2. "Golden Waterway" Rhine River Caiyin River is the largest river in Western Europe. It originates in the Swiss Alps, flows through France, Germany and the Netherlands, and flows into the North Sea west of Rotterdam. The total length of the main stream is1.320km, and the drainage area is 252,000km2. A tributary of the left bank is the Mose River. The tributaries on the right bank include the Main River and Ruhr River. The Rhine River is rich and even in flow, with the annual average flow of Basel in the upper reaches of the river being 65,438+0,028 seconds and that of the estuary being 2,500 seconds. Starting from the Rhineland Fedan, the navigation mileage is 886 kilometers, which plays a great role in the shipping of Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. There are canals connected with Danube River, Seine River, Rhone River, Marne River, Ames River, Weser River and Elbe River, and the freight volume ranks among the top rivers in the world.

The countries that have invested great efforts in the management and development of the Rhine River and achieved high benefits are the Netherlands and Germany. Before 65438+ 1960, although Rotterdam, the Netherlands, had the natural advantage of direct access to the sea, due to the frequent diversion of the delta riverbed, the 30-kilometer straight-line sailing distance from Rotterdam to Beihai exceeded 150 km, and it took the Netherlands six years to dig through the coastal sand dunes from 1866 to 1872. A new waterway with a length of 33 kilometers and a depth of 15 meters was built from Rotterdam Port to Cape Holland, and deepened at 1885, which made the Rhine River have the most convenient and difficult deep-water channel to enter the sea, thus more firmly bringing the inland coastal hinterland into its sphere of influence and gaining a position superior to other North Sea ports. After World War II, the Netherlands built artificial canals such as Amsterdam-Cain Canal, forming a vast and criss-crossing inland river shipping network with Amsterdam as the center in the north and Ludaidan as the center in the south, including 1, 3 10 km of natural rivers and 2070 km of artificial rivers, which are rare in the world. At present, the Netherlands accounts for 53% of the traffic volume of the Rhine and Maas rivers. It has a huge inland river fleet (about 6,000 ships) and transports about 260 million tons of goods to all parts of Europe every year. The freight volume and cargo turnover (more than 30 billion tons kilometers) are among the highest in the world.

Germany is the main country through which the Rhine River flows. The river section in Germany is 867 kilometers long and the navigation mileage is 7 19 kilometers. Germany's governance policy for the Rhine River is shipping-oriented, taking into account other factors, and closely combining river regulation with the development of river basin economic zone. From the end of 19 to the end of World War II, Germany connected all rivers in the country by digging artificial waterways, forming a nationwide inland waterway network, and incorporating all seaports, major industrial areas and consumption centers into the inland waterway network, realizing trunk feeder transportation and river-sea combined transportation. During World War II, the waterway network was severely damaged, nearly 1,000 bridges were bombed and 3,750 ships sank to the bottom of the river. After several years of recovery after the war, it began to enter the intensive construction period of inland river transportation. The division of the country and the confrontation between the East and the West led to the weakening of the links between the former Federal Republic of Germany and the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern European countries, and the focus of inland river shipping construction in the former Federal Republic of Germany shifted to strengthening the water transport network with the Rhine as the main axis. Subsequently, regional economic ties also changed from the east-west direction to the north-south direction.

Since the post-war period, the inland waterway network construction projects in the former Federal Republic of Germany mainly include the cascade channelization projects in the upper reaches of the Rhine River and its tributaries, the Mose River, the Main River and neckar, the expansion of the Kiel Canal, the coastal canal and the Sino-German Canal, and the construction of the Elbe Branch Canal and the US-Danube Canal. At present, Germany has more than 600O kilometers of inland waterways (including canals), more than 3,000 inland cargo ships, more than 200 million tons of inland cargo and a cargo turnover of more than 50 billion tons, ranking fourth in the world. The Rhine is the most important navigable river. After the reconstruction, the main and tributary waterways can pass 1.350 tons of European self-propelled barges, the main stream below Cologne can pass 7000 tons of seagoing vessels, and 5000 tons of seagoing vessels can reach Mannheim. The total freight volume (German section) reaches about 200 million tons, making it one of the rivers with the highest shipping value and utilization efficiency in the world.

3. Volga River The Volga River is the largest river in Europe. It is the main river for inland navigation in Russia. It originates from Valdai Mountain, meanders through forest belt, forest grassland belt and grassland belt, and flows into the Caspian Sea, with a total length of 3,530 kilometers and a navigation mileage of 3,256 kilometers. The main navigable tributaries are Kama River, Oka River, Viaka River and Belaya River, with a drainage area of 6,543.8+0.36 million square kilometers. This basin is rich in resources.

Before the October Revolution, the Volga River was a navigable river in a completely natural state. Although shipping is of little significance, the freight volume is very limited. For example, according to the statistics of 19 13, the freight volume of the Volga River-Kama River navigation area is only 23.47 million tons.

Since 1930s, the Soviet government has carried out large-scale comprehensive development and management of the Volga River. The main projects include Moscow Canal, Volga-Don Canal, Volga-Baltic Canal and White Sea-Baltic Canal (not belonging to Volga River system). At the same time, the river channel was dredged and the river port was built, forming an inland river shipping network all over the European part of the Soviet Union, which was connected with the Baltic Sea through the Volga-Baltic Canal. It is connected with the White Sea through the North Dvina River and the White Sea-Baltic Canal, reaches Moscow through the Moscow Canal, and is connected with the Azov Sea and the Black Sea through the Volga River-Don Canal, thus realizing navigation between the five seas.

The Volga River is the backbone of the unified deep-water waterway network between Russia and Europe. The total length of this waterway network is about 6,600 kilometers, and the water depth of the trunk line exceeds 3.6 meters. It can handle 5,000-ton freighters and 20,000-30,000-ton fleets, and the annual freight volume of trunk lines can reach more than 200 million tons. The use of river-sea dual-purpose ship can realize river-sea combined transport without transshipment and inversion. Due to the freezing in winter, the sailing period is 7 months to 9 months. The main river ports are yaroslav, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, kuibyshev and Volgograd.

Danube The Danube is the second longest river in Europe. Originated in the foothills of Heilin Mountain in the southern plateau of Germany, it flows eastward through Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine, and flows into the Black Sea near Sulina, Romania. The total length of the main stream is 2850 kilometers, and the navigation mileage is 2742 kilometers. There are more than 30 navigable tributaries, the most important of which are Tisza River, Oort River and Prut River on the left bank, and Delaware River, sava river River, Morava River and Iske River on the right bank, with a drainage area of 8 1.7 million square kilometers.

Danube is an important international waterway in central and southeastern Europe. Due to the construction of the German Rhine-Main-Danube waterway project (1992), the Danube River is connected with the Rhine River, forming a 3400-kilometer-long European shipping artery from Rotterdam, the mouth of the Caiyin River, to Sourine, the mouth of the Danube River, obliquely crossing Europe, crossing 1 1 country and connecting 16. In addition, Austria and other coastal countries have also carried out large-scale water conservancy construction. For example, in 1984, Romania built the Danube-Black Sea Canal with a total length of 64.2 kilometers, making the total shipping volume of the Danube reach more than 80 million tons. In recent years, due to the transition of economic system, economic downturn and the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the actual business volume of transportation industry has fallen sharply in the coastal countries of Southeast Europe.

The Yangtze River is the largest river in China. Its main stream runs through the east and west of central China, with a total length of 6,300 kilometers. It flows through 10 provincial administrative regions, crosses three economic zones, and becomes the traffic artery of southwest, central and east China. There are many tributaries of the Yangtze River, which flow from north to south, forming a famous inland water transport system in China and even the world, with a waterway mileage of more than 70,000 kilometers, accounting for 70% of the total inland navigation mileage in China. Since the founding of New China, the shipping industry in the Yangtze River has made great progress and made important contributions to China's economic construction and national defense construction. For decades, the Yangtze River waterway department has reformed and maintained the main waterway every year to ensure smooth shipping in dry season. With regard to the development and management of the Yangtze River, at present, relevant parties are making overall plans and arrangements based on the principle of comprehensive utilization of water resources, so as to create conditions for gradually realizing the cascade channelization of the main and tributaries and building a unified inland waterway network. Since the mid-1980s, the first shipping development plan of the Yangtze River system has been put into practice step by step. After the implementation of the plan, 1,000-ton ships will go directly from Shanghai to Yibin, and the port throughput of the whole line will reach more than 700 million tons, and the number of seats and deadweight tons of various ships will increase greatly.

With the development of national economy, the passenger and freight volume of the Yangtze River system has greatly increased, with 1952 freight volume only 36 million tons, 1985 freight volume reaching 269 million tons, freight turnover 761000000 tons, and 190 freight volume reaching 471000000 tons. In the same year, 226 million passengers were transported, and the passenger turnover reached 654.38+009 million person-kilometers. Located in the middle of Panama, the Panama Canal is an important shipping waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Its opening has greatly shortened the voyage between the two oceans and has the same world strategic significance as the Suez Canal.

Panama Canal is 8 1.3km long and 0 152-304m wide. As early as 1826, the idea of digging the Panama Canal was put forward. 188 1 year, French Canal Company won the right to dig Panama Canal for the first time, but the project was forced to be interrupted in 1889 due to bad natural conditions. 1903, the United States obtained the right to independently dig and permanently use the Panama Canal and canal area through the unequal Treaty of Hei-Bunol-varia, and occupied and controlled it. 1904 Construction started. 19 14 Panama Canal opened to traffic. 1977 the United States and Panama signed an agreement to return the sovereignty of the canal. The canal returned to Panama at the end of 1999.

Panama Canal is one of the greatest projects in19th century. It is a lock-type canal with six locks, which can pass 40,000 to 50,000 tons of seagoing ships. When a ship passes, it needs to raise or lower the water level step by step through the three-stage lock to enter the other side from one side. Such a spectacular sight is unique to the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal has greatly promoted the development of the world shipping industry. At present, goods accounting for 5% of global trade volume are sent to all parts of the world through canals. According to Pakistani sources, the utilization rate of Panama Canal has reached 94% of its capacity, and will reach saturation within three years. Facing the increasingly busy world shipping, the Panama Canal, which has a history of nearly a hundred years, is overwhelmed, and it is only a matter of time before it is expanded.