Waterway engineering refers to various engineering construction activities carried out in waters, including inland waterways, ports, coastal protection and other fields. Waterway engineering is an important foundation of the water transportation industry, which is of great significance to ensure the national economic and social development, promote the domestic and international double cycle, and achieve the goal of carbon neutralization.

According to data from the Champ Consulting Group, 2022China's water transport industry completed business freight volume 512.72 inbillion tons, up 1.2 percentCompletion of cargo turnover 230000.00billion ton-km, up 1.7 percent; Completion of commercial passenger traffic 59.76billion people, up 7.0 percentCompletion of passenger turnover 13800.00100 million person kilometers, an increase of 6.8 percent. Among them, inland waterway shipping completed 26.50 of the freight volume.billion tons, up 1.5 percentCompletion of cargo turnover 1.08trillion ton-km, up 1.4 percent; Complete passenger traffic 0.67billion people, up 5.0 percentCompletion of passenger turnover 20.00100 million person kilometers, an increase of 4.8 percent. Port completes cargo throughput 149.00billion tons, up 2.0 percent, of which foreign trade cargo throughput 64.00billion tons, up 3.2 percent; Complete container throughput 3.10billion TEUs, up 5.1 percent。

2023The year is"Fourteen five"The first year of the plan is also a key year for my country to implement new development concepts and build a new development pattern. According to the "Water Transport"Fourteen five"Development Planningand the Outline for Building a Powerful Transportation NationIn the spirit of such documents, my country will accelerate the high-quality development of water transportation, with golden waterways and first-class ports as the main line, green safety as the bottom line, innovation-driven as the driving force, reform and opening up as the means, and serving the national strategy as the guide to satisfy the people. A better life is the goal to build a safe, efficient, green, low-carbon, intelligent and advanced modern water transportation system.

Champu Consulting believes that in this context, the waterway engineering industry will face new development opportunities:

One is to speed up the improvement of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network. According to the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline,2035In the year, China will build a comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network covering the whole area, reasonable structure, perfect function, safety and efficiency. Among them, water transport will give full play to its advantages of low cost, large capacity, low carbon and environmental protection, play an important role in the domestic large cycle, and provide important support in the international double cycle. This requires accelerating the construction of inland waterways, coastal ports, coastal protection and other waterway projects, improving waterway navigation capacity, port access capacity, and coastal protection capacity, and achieving efficient connection and coordinated development with railways, highways, and civil aviation.

Second, the implementation of major regional strategies. my country will continue to implement major regional strategies such as the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and accelerate the formation of a new pattern of regional coordinated development. This requires strengthening the regional layout and coordinated planning of waterway engineering, optimizing the allocation of waterway resources, improving the level of regional water transportation services, and promoting regional economic and social development and ecological environmental protection.

Third, actively participate in international cooperation and competition. Our country will actively promote“The Belt and Road Initiative”Construction, deepen connectivity and cooperation with countries along the route, and create an open pattern of land-sea and internal and external linkages and two-way east-west mutual aid. This requires strengthening international cooperation and exchanges in waterway engineering, improving the status and influence of my country's ports in the global port system, and enhancing the competitiveness and voice of my country's water transportation in the international market.

The fourth is to vigorously promote the green and low-carbon transformation. China will adhere to the concept of green development, accelerate the promotion of carbon neutrality, and build a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system. This requires strengthening the green construction and management of waterway projects, promoting energy-saving and emission reduction technologies and equipment, improving the resource utilization efficiency and environmental friendliness of waterway projects, and providing strong support for the green and low-carbon transformation of the water transportation industry.

Shangpu Consulting also pointed out that while seizing the opportunity, the waterway engineering industry also needs to solve some shortcomings and challenges:

One is to improve the quality and efficiency of waterway engineering. At present, some waterway projects in China still have some problems, such as unscientific planning, non-standard construction, imperfect management and so on, resulting in insufficient navigation capacity, excess port capacity, weak coastal protection and so on. It is necessary to strengthen the quality supervision and evaluation of waterway engineering, strictly implement the standards and specifications, improve the safety, reliability and adaptability of waterway engineering, and improve the comprehensive benefits of waterway engineering.

The second is to strengthen the innovation drive of waterway engineering. At present, some waterway projects in China still have problems such as backward technology, outdated equipment and single mode, which leads to the low level of intelligence and digitization of waterway projects, which is difficult to meet the development needs of water transportation industry in the new era. This requires strengthening the scientific and technological innovation and personnel training of waterway engineering, introducing, digesting and absorbing international advanced technology and equipment, and promoting the intelligent and digital transformation and upgrading of waterway engineering.

The third is to implement the green concept of waterway engineering. At present, there are still some problems such as environmental pollution, ecological destruction and waste of resources in some waterway projects in China, which lead to the lack of coordination between waterway engineering and natural environment, and affect the sustainable development of waterway engineering. This requires the implementation of the green concept and responsibility of waterway engineering, strengthen the environmental protection and ecological restoration of waterway engineering, and promote the energy conservation, emission reduction and recycling of waterway engineering.

In short, the waterway engineering industry is an important foundation for the water transport industry and an important part of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network. In“fourteen five”During this period, the waterway engineering industry will face new development opportunities, but it also needs to solve some shortcomings and challenges, improve the quality, efficiency and green level of waterway engineering, and contribute to the high-quality development of the waterway industry and the modernization of the country.