Some Chinese ferries

Apart from its people and its carefully preserved historic sites, nearly everything in China seems less than 20 years old nowadays. The tourist ferries are no exception. The historic Hong Kong Star Ferries remain, but of particular interest here are the big new diesel-driven 3,000-5,000 ton Yangtze River ferries and the smaller Li River vessels.

All ferries seem to be commanded by excellent seamen. Despite the ferries’ windage, during one recent China visit, not one of the 20 or more approaches in testing current and wind conditions resulted in anything other than a gentle kiss on the alongside furniture.

Three big Yangtze River ferries set off from Fengdu.

 The Yangtze ferry commanders favour “coming to a hover” in 4-7 knot currents, pointing upstream, about 75 meters directly off the desired berthing point. Then they let go the outboard anchor and track in with the bow canted in a couple of degrees off the current, but steadied by the pull of the anchor cable. They make fine power and rudder adjustments until one or two seamen casually secure a pair of flimsy-looking bow wires to the wharf or inboard vessel. Then the master gently eases the craft in with rudder until it is secured with conventional springs and wires.

Capacity

The big Yangtze ferries might carry 180 passengers in four cabin decks during a typical 660 km-long four-day Three Gorges cruise. The five-star craft are luxurious, but even three-star vessels offer an acceptable comfort level. The more expensive five-star “royal suite” class accommodation might include a double bed cabin, anteroom and bathroom, while a three-star “deluxe cabin” has motel-style twin beds and an en-suite bathroom. However, all mattresses seem to range from “China-hard” to “Rock-firm”. Those demanding a modicum of a hip hole might elect to stow an air mattress and bellows in their personal baggage.

Some of the big Yangtze ferries are rather fanciful in design, but all are luxurious inside.

 The $US25 billion Three Gorges Project has created an inland lake 175 meters above the old river levels. This flooded hundreds of riverside cities and hamlets. About 1.13 million people (some say two million) relocated to higher ground. With true Chinese efficiency, billboards ashore showed how high the river would rise. Entire new cities, with impressive high-rise offices, residential buildings, factories and even substantial bridges were built at a time when 13 million Chinese were migrating from farmlands to cities each year.

This massive 17-year project aims to control the disastrous floods that regularly claimed hundreds of lives. At the same time, generates electricity for the cities and reliable irrigation for expanding agriculture. Its detractors claim that the dirt-laden Yangtze will quickly silt up the reservoir, the Three Gorges area will become less attractive to tourists, the ecology will change drastically for the worse and the increased agriculture will make downstream water even more polluted than it is now.

Traffic

There is plenty of traffic on the Yangtze, day and night. Nests of four or five heavily-laden barges, pushed by a 10,000 hp tug, are rarely out of sight. Small inter-city hydrofoils zip by at 40 knots or more. Self-powered barges plod along, sometimes only making only one or two knots over the ground against the 5-7 knot current. The bigger flat-bottomed cruise ferries are capable of 35 knots, according to the brochures, but rarely seem to exceed 20 knots.

Little Russian-built Yangste hydrofoils and bigger Hong Kong catamarans, some Australian-built, zip by at 40 knots or more.

Visibility is frequently poor and there are strict one-way traffic separation rules at the many choke points. It is not an environment for the fainthearted. Good seamanship is required to avoid collisions.

The ferries come from a variety of sources. The two biggest Yangtze ferries, East King and East Queen, were built in Germany. They were originally intended for the Volga River. The Guangzhou-Hong Kong TurboCats were made in Western Australia.

River Li ferries

The locally-built chisel-bow River Li ferries might hold 75 day-trip passengers for a half-day cruise through the fantastic Guilin mountain scenery, or an evening cruise to watch cormorant fishing. Drawing less than half a metre, they plod along at 10 knots or so, sometimes in close line ahead convoys of 20 or more vessels. This is not much of a problem until opposing traffic appears. Then bunching up can look fearsome to the untrained eye, but once again everybody seems to know the rules. To aid separation, each River Li ferry skipper posts a person at the bow with a big red or green flag indicating intent to pass each other port to port or starboard to starboard.

This bamboo-raft bicycle ferry (above) on the River Li has little positive buoyancy, never mind its metacentric height. Meanwhile, long lines of 75-passenger ferries bunch up at choke points.

Most of the Chinese tourist-carrying ferries look relatively new but even so they are well maintained. It is rare to see a speck of rust, even on an old Star Ferry. Diesel exhaust smoke is equally rare, except maybe behind some of the ex-Russian hydrofoils.

Just like most of China nowadays, the waterways tourist ferries look modern but functional. They are certainly well maintained and are commanded by experienced professionals.