BEIJING, Nov. 24 -- The shipping throughput of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, had reached 160 million tonnes as of 6 p.m. Thursday, surpassing the highest level recorded in previous years, the Ministry of Transport said Friday.

Breakdown of the figures showed the dam's ship locks had a throughput of 156 million tonnes, while the dam's ship lift had a throughput of 4.38 million tonnes.

"Passenger and cargo transport on the Yangtze River has boomed this year, leading to a high throughput of the dam," said the ministry.

Since the beginning of the year, 546,100 tonnes of key materials have been transported via the dam and almost 2.15 million travelers have visited the site, which bolsters the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, according to the ministry.

The Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water-control system, consisting of a 2,309-meter-long and 185-meter-high dam, five-tier ship locks on the north and south sides, and 34 turbo-generators with a combined power generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts.