On the Water Transport in China The Present Condition and Prospect

Abstract

China has made every effort to increase the capacity of water trans-port since the foundation of the People's Republic of China.
The volume of the water transport of coal was 158 million tons in 1995, and the water transport is the largest taransport-mode of coal in China. China expects to con-tinue 8% economic growth rate for the next fifteen years. The production of coal is esti-mate at 1.4 billon tons in 2000 and 2.0 billion tons in 2010.
The shortage of investment in water transport will bring about the shortage of the water transport.
It is predicted that the water transport, if it is insufficent to invest in water trans-port, would be bottleneck in the producution of coal in China. It is also necessary that both railway transport and road transport are expanded by investment.
The coal and water transport are essential to Chinese economy. The paper shows that appropriate policy on transport of coal is quite necessary for the sound economic growth in the future.