The mouth of Yangtze River will be dredged to a depth of 12.5 meters by next September to allow safe passage for about 30 percent more cargo ships, the project authority said Thursday morning.

The current phase, with a total investment of 14 billion yuan (1.99 billion U.S. dollars), is the third step of the Yangtze River Deepening Project which began in 2000.

The river mouth currently has a depth of 10 meters.

The mouth of Yangtze River will be able to serve about 90,000 cargo ships per year after the dredging, 20,000 more than its current capability, the city's transportation department said.

The water depth will also allow passage for cargo carriers weighing up to 300,000 tons.

The third phase of the project began on September 3, 2006, after the country's top planning body approved the project, previous reports said.

The first phase, which began in November, 2000, increased the depth of the watercourse from seven meters to 8.5 meters, while the second phase, started in January, 2004, increased the depth to 10 meters.

The project has brought 33.6 billion yuan in marine transportation benefits for the city, officials said.

Shanghai overtook Hong Kong as the world's second-largest port city in terms of container services at the beginning of this year.

The city's harbors handled more than 26.15 million containers last year, second only to Singapore, the State Oceanic Administration has said.

Last year, China ranked highest in the world in container and cargo capacity for the fifth straight year.  

Source: Shanghai Daily