千年运河焕发数字智能活力
The Subei Canal, spanning 475 kilometers, is the highest-grade waterway with the densest ship traffic in the Grand Canal. For 12 consecutive years, it has handled over 300 million tons of cargo annually. This golden waterway, with higher elevation in the north and lower in the south, is lined with 11 shipping tiers and 30 ship locks, forming the largest cluster of inland ship locks in China. However, with the continuous growth of inland waterway freight, issues such as insufficient cross-lock coordination, reliance on manual safety supervision, and a short shipping service chain under the traditional lock operation model have gradually emerged.
The Jiangsu transportation department, based on the actual situation of the Subei Canal, has constructed an integrated "air, ground, underwater" digital sensing system, aggregating multidimensional data of vessels, waterways, locks, and hydrometeorology. It has developed three core models: multi-tier lock network scheduling, automatic lock operation supervision, and the "Grand Navigation Assistant," leveraging digital and intelligent methods to drive the transformation of lock operation models, ushering new vitality into the millennia-old canal.
Intelligent Network Scheduling: Waterway "Green Wave" Passage
In the past, each ship lock along the Subei Canal independently conducted scheduling operations. In cases of lock repair, water level changes, or extreme weather conditions, the lack of coordination between upstream and downstream lock stations often led to vessel congestion and navigation blockage risks. To break through the bottleneck of full-line navigation, the key lies in achieving coordinated linkage across multiple tiers of locks.
Jiangsu has pioneered the use of the "Ship Communication App" in the industry, allowing one-click lock passage application, full-line information overview on a single screen, and navigation scheduling commanded on a single map. The AI multi-tier ship lock network scheduling model collects real-time data on vessel dynamics, lock station statuses, water levels, and meteorological conditions along the entire canal, automatically generating comprehensive scheduling plans, preemptively assessing navigation risks, and transitioning from passive handling to proactive prevention and control.
In May this year, during major repairs at Liu Laojian No. 3 Lock, the number of waiting vessels rapidly increased. Upon detecting navigation warnings, the AI scheduling model promptly launched an emergency joint scheduling mechanism. On one hand, it coordinated upstream and downstream locks to gradually release vessels to balance lock station navigation loads. On the other hand, it directed some vessels to divert to branch waterways, quickly alleviating navigation pressure. With this intelligent scheduling system, the Subei Canal achieves normalized "green wave" waterway passage, ensuring vessels are no longer "stuck at one lock, slowing down the entire line."
Enhanced Safety and Operational Efficiency
Varying lock dimensions, diverse vessel types, and multiple variables such as water conditions, weather, and construction pose significant challenges to the efficient and safe operation of locks. The AI automatic operation supervision model integrates nearly a thousand scheduling rules, incorporating various dynamic sensing data to output optimal lock sequence plans and vessel arrangement schemes within seconds, maximizing lock chamber utilization and lock passage efficiency.
Leveraging intelligent sensing devices like video and sensors, the Subei Canal achieves grid-based, all-time lock area inspections, transforming safety supervision from traditional "human guard" to comprehensive "intelligent guard." The system interacts with lock control devices, enabling automated lock operations under safety assurance, exploring "unattended, minimal emergency staff" operation models. The entire lock passage process requires no manual field operations, with gate opening/closing, water level adjustment, and vessel arrangements all autonomously managed by the system, simultaneously enhancing safety coefficients and operational efficiency.
Intelligentization not only focuses on lock sites but also extends to crew members and logistics enterprises, building a digital service system covering the entire shipping chain. For the crew, the "Grand Navigation Assistant" acts like a water-borne GPS, intelligently planning optimal routes based on navigation paths, and providing real-time safety warnings on water depth, bridge clearance, etc. Equipped with intelligent voice customer service, it caters to elderly crew's usage habits, efficiently addressing various inquiries and assistance requests.
For ports, manufacturing, and logistics enterprises, transportation departments conducted the "Hundred Enterprise Needs Survey," delving into actual demands from the industry end and launching characteristic data products such as "vessel lock passage timetable." Enterprises can access real-time vessel locations and estimated port arrival times to optimize production procurement and inventory management. A manager from Huai'an Zhongtian Steel Group told reporters that integrating these systems enhanced inventory turnover rates by over 52%, significantly improving supply chain operational efficiency.
The application of a series of AI technologies has brought visible changes: operational efficiency of Subei Canal locks increased by 18%, average vessel waiting time at locks decreased by 21%, emergency response times for incidents shortened by over 30%, and satisfaction with shipping services along the canal consistently remained above 99%. Currently, this set of practical experiences is being promoted across main waterways in Jiangsu Province, attracting numerous domestic navigation management units for exchanges and learning.
