The cargo throughput of ports along the Yangtze River is expected to hit a record 4.02 billion tons when figures are totaled for 2024, retaining the river's title as the world's busiest interior waterway, the river administration announced recently.

The record growth will come despite significant challenges through the year such as severe floods, droughts, typhoons and major maintenance on the Three Gorges ship locks, it said. The annual port cargo throughput grew 3.9 percent year-on-year, while pilot-guided vessel cargo volume reached 470 million tons, up 6 percent. The Three Gorges Dam navigation hub handled nearly 160 million tons of cargo.