Shanghai’s Yangshan port is currently in the splendid position where any new additional capacity that becomes available is immediately fully booked by shipping lines days in advance.

Y. S. Gong, general manager, operations, OOCL (China), said Yangshan port was much more easily accessible because it was a deep-water port unlike Waigaoqiao’s facilities that were subject to tide conditions.

Gong added: ‘Furthermore, Yangshan port’s container handling cost is 10% cheaper than Waigaoqiao’s, although there is an additional trucking cost of about $72 per 20-foot container for transportation of the container from the city to Yangshan.’

Yangshan port is also more convenient as vessels can move in and out of the port within 24 hours.

A Waigaoqiao port official said all berths in Yangshan’s Phase 3A, which opened without any fuss on December 10 last year, have been already booked out.

He said, ‘Under Phase 3A, four berths with a length of 1,350m were constructed and they have an alongside water depth of 22m, which means they can accommodate vessels of 10,000 TEU plus.’ Where the letters TEU stand for a container.

Yangshan port’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 projects have five and four berths respectively with an alongside depth of 15m so they take smaller vessels. Still massive but slightly smaller.

Shanghai International Port Group, Singapore’s PSA International, China Shipping and French shipping giant CMA CGM have invested in Phase 3A.

Now 3B is open for bidding and it seems unlikely that anything will stop it getting it into operation sometime before the very end of the year.

Several port operators as well as carriers have expressed an interest in the project.
Last year, Shanghai port handled 26.15 million containers — TEU — which is up 20.4% year-on-year, and overtook Hong Kong to become the No. 2 port in the world after Singapore.

This year, the port expects to match Singapore and just possibly overtake it. To read much more on the subject click HERE.
Source: CargoNews Asia

Maersk line, the world’s largest container shipping company, has transferred its foreign container business in the Qingzhou Terminal at the Mawei Port Area of the Port of Fuzhou, Southeast China, to the Jiangyin Port Area.

The Jiangyin Port Area, with deeper water than the Qingzhou Terminal, has a processing area for exported products, 283,000 sq m of logistics yard, a dedicated passenger line between Jiangyin and Fuzhou and 25 hectares of container yard at the 100,000-tonnage No. 3 and No. 2 container berths.

To adds to this there will be a bonded logistics area and other supporting facilities such as gas station and bank offices.

Maersk line expects to handle 100,000 containers in the Jiangyin Port Area this year.

This is part of an overall expansion in shipping routes and a drive to promote more cargo sources.
Source: CargoNews Asia

China and the European Union (EU) have given each other unrestricted maritime market access as a result of the EU-China Maritime Transport Agreement. Aviation has ‘open skies’. Shipping now has ‘open seas.’

Under the pact, concluded in Brussels on Dec. 6, 2002 — international agreements cannot be rushed — international cargo transport and logistics operators may extend branches that provide door-to-door multi-modal services.

European Commission Vice-President Jacques Barrot in a letter to the Chinese Minister for Communications, Li Shenglin, said, ‘The agreement has strengthened our maritime relations and cooperation. These close ties have been beneficial for the development of trade and economic activities, not only between China and the EU but also with the world at large.’

He also said that the accord would mean increased investment in all segments of maritime transport, and it would also boost cooperation in matters as important as maritime safety and environmentally sustainable shipping.

Both sides would also increase investment in ports and logistics infrastructure to avoid costly congestion.

About 90% of world trade is seaborne, and both the EU and China are major participants in maritime affairs. EU shipping companies control more than 40% of the world fleet, and China is the EU’s second largest trading partner.
Source: China View

Dalian Port, the largest port company specializing in oil products and liquefied chemicals in northeastern China, is planning a domestic listing for as early as 2009.

As part of this move to be a listed company Dalian Port plans to increase its capital expenditure to US$140 million.

However, the listing is not yet definitive. Jiang Luning, general manager of Dalian Port, said A-share listing is possible but not definite because it will depend on the market situation and other factors.

With its investment Dalian Port plans to build 12 more crude oil storage tanks, which will have a total capacity of one to 1.2 million tonnes.

The firm expects its production of crude oil and refined oil to rise 10% this year. Last year it produced about 33.4 million tonnes.
Source: CargoNews Asia

The Economist with a major article — not all totally complimentary — on the galloping pace of building and expansion in China.

Some examples of growth.

Beijing’s new airport terminal, seen here during construction, was designed by the British firm Foster + Partners, and planned and built in four years by an army of 50,000 workers.

The terminal is 3km (1.8 miles) long. The floor space is 17% bigger than all the terminals at London’s Heathrow combined (including about-to-open Terminal Five). Part of a $3.8 billion expansion, which included the opening of a third runway in October, it is due to open at the end of this month, weeks ahead of schedule.

It is the ninth busiest airport in the world.

And it is part of the rush to improve China’s logistics infrastructure.

Between 2001 and the end of 2005 more was spent on roads, railways and other fixed assets than was spent in the previous 50 years. According to the state media, investment will see double-digit growth every year for the rest of the decade.

The world’s longest sea-crossing bridge is due to open in June: a 36km six-lane highway across Hangzhou Bay.
Shanghai is home to the current world-record holder for such a structure, the 32km Donghai bridge. This was opened less than three years ago to link the city with Yangshan port.
Yangshan is intended to be one of the world’s biggest deep-water facilities when completed at some point after 2010.
From August the 115km journey from Beijing to Tianjin, its nearest port, will be reduced to half an hour with the inauguration of a bullet-train link
Work began in January on a 1,300km line between Beijing and Shanghai which will be completed in five years’ time.
The world’s highest railway from Golmud to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa was completed in 2006.
Since the 1990s China has built an expressway network criss-crossing the country that is second only to America’s interstate highway system in length. By the end of 2007, some 53,600km of toll expressways had been built. The aim is to have 70,000km of expressways by 2020.
The World Bank says that China’s railways carry 25% of the world’s railway traffic on just 6% of its track length. In the past couple of years investment has grown considerably. This year’s target is $42 billion, compared with a total of $72 billion in the preceding five years.
The increase in air passenger traffic has been dramatic: from 7 million passengers in 1985 to over 185 million in 2007.
Source: The Economist

APL has new service where if a container does not reach its destination in the United States by the specified date there is a 20% refund.

This is probably the first day-definite, full-container-load service from Asia to virtually any US destination.

APL Logistics calls it APL Guaranteed Continental service and it connects the ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chiwan, and Yantian with virtually any ZIP code in the continental US.
If it is a full-container load then it gets there on the specified date or the shippers get a 20% refund.

APL Logistics started something like this in August 2006 with OceanGuaranteed – the idea being a guaranteed service which was cost-effective, expedited surface alternative to airfreight.

APL Logistics said its new service will provide the industry’s fastest transit times between key ports in China and customers’ US locations. In some cases this will be as little as 15 days.
Source: Eye for Transport

China’s seas contributed RMB2.49 trillion ($347 billion), or 10%, of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year.

A report, issued by the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), said the value of marine industries, including fishing, transport, oil and gas, tourism and shipbuilding, grew 15% year on year, more than the economy as a whole.

The marine industry employed 31.5 million people last year, 1.9 million more than in 2006.

SOA spokesman Li Haiqing said the main pillars of the rapid growth were the traditional industries of transport, tourism and fishing, which accounted for more than 80% of total output value.

Emerging industries also grew quickly. For example, the oceanic biological pharmaceutical industry, which generated more than RMB4 billion last year, was up more than 37%.

With the launch in November of the first offshore wind power station, funded and run by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the sector generated RMB500 million, up 17% year on year.

The gross production value in the Bohai Bay Rim Area was more than RMB954 billion, accounting for 38% of total output of the marine sector. Similarly, the gross production of the Yangtze River Delta region amounted to about RMB775 billion, or about 31% of the total output.
Source: English East Day

If you sell more goods you have to move them around — logistics — and therefore the direct correlation is more goods, more logistics. Elementary stuff. Yet the figures continue to astound.

According to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP for short) last year China’s total logistics flow rose 25.5% to RMB74.8 trillion or US$10.27 trillion.

Lu Jiang, chairman of the CFLP said that domestic logistics enterprises faces challenges including competition from foreign companies, insufficient information technology support and transportation methods.

These are called growing pains. When you start talking about a $10 trillion industry it is a given the big will get bigger and, unless they are very specialized, the smaller players will proably get amalgamated.

Lu Jiang said there were challenges facing domestic logistics enterprises, including insufficient information technology support and transportation methods that were sometimes less than the state of the art.

He also said, ‘Although the industry maintained stable development in 2007, competition from foreign peers will mount in 2008 and the domestic logistics sector will see increasing openness.’ Which is a bit statig the obvious.
Sources: RTT News and Window of China

Dalian Port was, at one time, the number one port in China. Not any longer but it is making a strong comeback and hopes to become a shipping hub for Northeast Asia.

This come-back process started last May when China’s largest mineral ore berth started trial operations.
A month later it announced it had opened more ocean routes and lifted its container volume.
In July, Dalian Port began trial operations of China’s largest crude oil berth and started construction of giant auto berths.

Dalian is not the only port expanding and modernizing in the north east. There is, as it were, a three-port battle for Northeast Asia hub status.

The other two vying for the status are Tianjin and Qingdao.

Tianjin leads the northern trio in general cargo volume and is expected to further increase the gap this year by boosting general cargo capacity by 42 million tons and container capacity by 1.5 million TEUs.

Qingdao is China’s third largest container port after Shanghai and Shenzhen and its general cargo volume is also more than that of Dalian.

Dalian Port also faces fresh competition from the neighboring ports of Yingkou and Jinzhou.

Hui Kai, director of the Dalian Port Authority, is aware of the port’s deficiencies being outnumbered in container terminals and general cargo berths. But he said, ‘By 2010, Dalian will be able to handle 250 million tons of general cargo and 10 million TEUs of containers. And by 2020, the port will lift its capacity to 350 million tons of general cargo and 15 million TEUs of containers.’

Crude oil, roll on-roll off cargo, grain and containers will be the main targets of the port. For a very full report click on Source.
Source: CargoNews Asia

China and Vietnam are seriously discussing improving the infrastructure in the two corridors involving two southwestern Chinese cities and four northern Vietnamese localities.

In May 2004, the governments of China and Vietnam agreed to develop the two economic corridors, and the Beibu Gulf economic belt involving China’s Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong and Macao, and 10 coastal localities of Vietnam, to speed up socioeconomic development of the involved cities and provinces, as well as their trade and economic ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Now something appears to be happening.

At an international seminar attended by the Chinese and the Vietnamese representatives, the Chinese ambassador to Vietnam, Hu Qianwen, proposed the two sides should regard areas along the roads and railways in the two corridors, and ports and logistics services in the Beibu gulf economic belt as major points for bilateral cooperation on trade and investment.

China has improved and constructed necessary infrastructure networks in the two corridors, he said, adding that it is most important for the two sides, especially Vietnam, to improve transport systems.

At the seminar, representatives from Vietnamese ministries and research institutes stated that the two sides should work at seeking funds and human resources to construct the two corridors and the belt, especially their infrastructure.

Nguyen Ba An, vice director of the Development Strategy Institute under the Ministry of Planning and Investment said that the ‘most important measure is speeding up cooperation on building socioeconomic infrastructure, including expressways, rail routes, seaports, power plants, telecommunications networks, wastewater treatment plants, and infrastructure of border areas.’

He added the two sides should prioritize construction of expressways of Kunming-LaoCai-Hanoi-Hai Phong, and Nanning-Lang Son-Hanoi-Hai Phong.

This is a very tight geographical area around Hanoi as shown in our illustration which already has rail links although they are, at the moment, woeful.
Source: Window of China