Every winter, the number of ships on the Beijing Hangzhou canal increases significantly. Loaded with "warmth" ,These ships pass the lockage orderly. As one of the main channels of "Transportation of Coal from North to South", Beijing Hangzhou canal and the "golden waterway" Yangtze River and Xijiang shipping main line together display a significant water territory of IWT in China, and is an important part of modern comprehensive transportation system in China. After years of construction and development, IWT has a good development foundation, which strongly supports the coordinated development of the region and the optimization of land and space layout, but the unbalanced and inadequate development problems are still outstanding. "Improve the weak link and promote IWT high-quality development" is always the concern of He Jianzhong, member of the national committee of CPPCC, president of CIN and former Vice Minister of the Ministry of transport.
On March 4, in an interview with reporters, He Jianzhong said that the "14th Five-Year Plan" phase will be the key opportunity period for IWT development such as Yangtze River and other inland shipping in China, and he suggested to strengthen financial fund guarantee, increase investment in scientific research and innovation, issue central bonds for Yangtze River shipping construction, establish an inland innovation project of “New generation shipping system”, and promote the realization of IWT new business of “shore based driving and control as main part and ship end watch as the auxiliary part”.
The investment demand of key water transport projects is expected to reach hundreds of billions of Yuan in China during the "14th Five-Year Plan"
By the end of 2019, the mileage of inland waterway in China has reached 127,300 km, and the third grade and above channels account for about 10.9%. Great progress has been made in the construction of IWT infrastructure in China, with rapid growth of transportation scale, preliminary results in the development of green water transportation, and remarkable achievements in the construction of water traffic safety supervision and rescue system. "These achievements are obvious to all, which not only promote the sustainable and rapid development of the economy along the river, but also bring actual guarantee for people to travel and tour through the construction of vehicle and passenger ro-ro terminals and cruise terminals." He Jianzhong said, to benchmark against the standard of speeding up the construction of a powerful transportation country, IWT development still needs to overcome the weak links. Especially, the smoothness and network degree of inland waterway are still insufficient, and the green development and safety guarantee capacity need to be further improved.
Recently issued Outline of National Comprehensive Three Dimensional Transportation Network Planning put forward that by 2035, the high-level channel will reach 25,000 km. "The future construction task is heavy and the capital demand scale is large, and the investment funds in the central budget should be the main source of capital for the construction of IWT infrastructure." He Jianzhong said, according to the calculation, the investment capital demand for key water transport projects in China will reach hundreds of billion yuan in the period of the "14th Five-Year Plan", of which the investment demand for inland water transport accounts for more than half. It is understood that as early as 2018, the investment in inland river construction has exceeded the coastal area, and the central government will continuously increase the investment proportion of inland water transportation.
In this regard, He Jianzhong suggested issuing the central bonds of Yangtze River shipping construction, and stabilizing and broadening the fund channels. The principal and interest of bonds are paid by the general budget funds of the central government, which systematically improves the navigation capacity of high-level channel of Yangtze River trunk branch, accelerates the establishment of a high-quality development system of Yangtze River shipping, and provides solid support for the high-quality development of the Yangtze River economic belt. At the same time, the market investment mechanism of national green development fund should be used to integrate smart port, green port and modern logistics into the investment scope of national green development fund.
It is suggested to establish a special innovation project for "new generation shipping system" in inland river
Outline of National Comprehensive Three Dimensional Transportation Network Planning clearly defines that, it is our task to speed up the intelligent existing facilities, strengthen the online monitoring of the operation status of high-grade inland river channels, and promote the green and low-carbon development. IWT is the main force of long-distance transportation of bulk goods in China, with large capacity, less land occupation, low energy consumption and small pollution. He Jianzhong believes that in shipping future of “shore based driving and control as main part and ship end watch as the auxiliary part”, it is still insufficient for the investment in scientific and technological innovation , and the development quality of port and navigation equipment needs to be improved.
"At present, the driving mode of inland river ships mainly depends on crew operation, and lacks innovative modes such as intelligent and remote driving." He Jianzhong said that to make the "black" technology light up the IWT, it is suggested to establish a special innovation project for "new generation shipping system" in inland river, and realize IWT new business of “shore based driving and control as main part and ship end watch as the auxiliary part”.
"General plan is important, which is the guarantee of promoting innovation projects." In He Jianzhong's view, it is necessary to build the top-level architecture of "new generation shipping system" of inland river, form the general planning scheme of new generation of inland river shipping innovation project, and establish the working mechanism of innovation project of "new generation shipping system" of inland river; carry out the research and development of key technologies, core components and equipment system of "new generation shipping system" of inland river by setting up scientific research special projects; select key areas and segments to promote demonstration and application among the Yangtze River, the Pearl River and canal systems, and accelerate the development of green and intelligent ship equipment.
It is reported that in response to the above problems, He Jianzhong, together with Huang Xianyao, Chengping and Wang Xianjin, members of the CPPCC, jointly submitted proposals to the conference, and expressed that experts in the industry would be organized to conduct in-depth detailed research and put forward further suggestions to relevant departments.