Yangtze River Nanjing Waterway Bureau: Deepen exchanges and promote cooperation to build a water safety line of defense

Recently, the Yangtze River Nanjing Navigation Bureau organized a visit and study activity to the Banqiao Ferry. Both parties focused on the actual needs of ferry operations and jointly explored new paths for government-enterprise cooperation around key tasks such as intelligent supervision, safety assurance, and information sharing.

Accompanied by relevant personnel from the Banqiao Ferry, the Yangtze River Nanjing Navigation Bureau delegation first visited the dispatch and command center. As the "intelligent brain" for the safe and efficient operation of ferry transportation, the center is responsible for core functions such as ferry dispatch, route monitoring, and emergency response. Technicians demonstrated the self-developed proactive safety ferry system on-site. This system integrates multi-source data such as video surveillance, automatic ship identification, and radar detection to achieve intelligent management and control of the entire ferry process. The system performs 3D modeling of common ship types in the jurisdiction and creates high-precision digital twins of physical entities such as ferry route facilities, navigation aids, and water environments. Driven by real-time data, managers can intuitively grasp key information such as ship dynamics, hydrometeorology, and channel conditions in a virtual space, providing scientific and precise support for navigation decisions and dispatching.

After the visit, the Yangtze River Nanjing Navigation Bureau delegation boarded a ferry to experience the entire process of crossing the main channel firsthand. During the voyage, they deeply felt the complex challenges of ferry operations in busy waterways: high density of ship traffic, diverse ship types, varying navigation speeds, and the added complexity of natural environmental factors such as water currents and wind direction, which significantly increase the difficulty and safety risks of ferry crossings.

According to an experienced captain on-site, during peak ship traffic periods, ferries must continuously observe the navigation situation in the water area and seize opportunities to find navigation windows. It is common to encounter situations where no suitable navigation opportunities arise, with single waiting times lasting up to more than twenty minutes. This not only tests the operational skills and psychological resilience of the crew but also places higher demands on navigation safety assurance services. This hands-on ferry experience gave the bureau staff a more intuitive and profound understanding of the complexity of ferry safety work, providing directions for improving channel services and enhancing navigation assurance capabilities in the future.

Subsequently, both parties held a special discussion meeting to exchange views on safe navigation during the flood season. The Yangtze River Nanjing Navigation Bureau, considering the current flood situation, proposed targeted safety recommendations: closely monitoring changes in water and rainfall conditions, strengthening equipment inspection and maintenance, and improving emergency plan drills to ensure ferry safety. Both parties noted that channel management and ferry operations are closely related, and further collaboration and coordination are needed to form a regulatory synergy and jointly build a strong safety barrier.

This learning and exchange activity enhanced communication, understanding, and mutual trust between the two parties, while also clarifying directions for deepening future cooperation. Moving forward, both parties will continue to focus on areas such as joint channel inspections, resource co-construction and sharing, and the application of drone technology, striving to improve intelligent supervision levels and service efficiency.