China's longest river, the Yangtze, was busier than ever last year, seeing record high volume of cargo on the waterway.

The throughput through the ship locks of the Three Gorges and Gezhouba hydropower projects both exceeded 130 million tonnes in 2016, up 8.3 percent over 2015, showed data with the Yangtze River Navigational Affairs Administration under the Ministry of Transport.

The throughput along the whole main waterway was nearly 2.3 billion tonnes last year, up 6 percent from 2015. The ports along the river also realized a throughput of 330 million tonnes in foreign trade.

To serve the Yangtze River economic belt, reforms aimed at unified administration and service have boosted vitality for the river's navigation, said Tang Guanjun, head of the administration on Saturday.

Navigation capacity further improved in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the river last year, thanks to efforts to increase the minimum water depth for navigation.

The permanent shiplift at the Three Gorges Dam in central China's Hubei Province, started trial operation in September, shortening the time for passenger and cargo ships to pass the dam.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn