Developing Inland Shipping In China:Cost And Emissions Reduction Study

The pressure on the current transport infrastructures in China, combined with the need for cleaner, safer and more economical ways of transporting goods have pushed the development of improved transport system. In this context, research on inland waterway transport is of important order, yet few academics concentrate on this subject; it’s lower economic scale compared to transoceanic shipping, the low data availability and the implementation difficulties are all possible reasons for this phenomenon. This thesis aims at giving a thorough look at the situation of waterborne transport currently prevailing in China and, more importantly, shows in a concrete manner the advantages that could be obtained by further developing this transport mode.Developing the Chinese hinterland is an important part of the economic development strategy for the Chinese government, yet in order to achieve this, an efficient transport network must be developed. Important investments have already been done in the road transport sector, building a extensive highway network. The rail transport sector is also one of the largest in the world, yet is suffers from important delays and under capacity problems. River transport has been in use for many years on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River, and more recently on the full course of the Yangtze up to Chongqing, however, the smaller rivers flowing in the Yangtze do not show the same level of utilization.Very little research has been done on the subject in China, what has been publish still mostly concentrate on one of the two major waterways, the Yangtze or the Pearl river, underlining the need for this thesis. We found no other work that has been done in such an extensive manner on the subject.In the introduction, we first demonstrate the importance of further improving the knowledge on this subject, then we present and extensive review of the works done by other academics. After, a section concentrate on the European experience and what can be learned and put in practice here in China to improve the efficiency and other aspect of river transport. We then review the benefits associated with waterborne transport and the feasibility of implementing this system in China. The next part constitute the core of this paper, a simulation model is built in ArcGIS, using the Gan river in Jiangxi province as a sample river, to give concrete example of the economic and environmental gain that can be achieve by augmenting the modal share of waterborne transport at the expense of road or rail transport. Then, a small review of the benefits of the gains that would be achieved by shifting more freight to river transport is offered, followed by the conclusion.The results of the simulation are very encouraging, not only did we record an important drop in the pollutant emission levels but also a significant decrease in the cost of transporting goods, sometimes river transport being as much as three times less expensive than road shipping in certain cases. The main drawback, as expected, was the longer transit times recorded, which is also true in the actual world. The time expense constitutes the main difficulties in the successful adoption of this mode of transport by exporters. Furthermore, an ensemble of reasons and possible solution are offered to improve the state of this mode of transport in China, ranging from a centralization of the industry to a standardization of the rules governing waterborne transport in each province.Overall, this thesis proves the advantages in both environmental and economic aspect of developing a sustainable river transport network in China. It proves the possibility, feasibility, and benefits while offering concrete answers to the potential problems that may arise and give concrete figure about the capacity projection that the river could potentially support.