Belgian Lao Zhu, the “old matchmaker” who has been rooted in China’s ports for ten years

He said that the Antwerp Port Authority was established in Shanghai at the end of 2007, in the middle of the explosive development of the Chinese ports. The results of the development is visible today. In 2017, seven of the top ten ports in the world are located in China.

In Lao Zhu’s opinion, the one-hundred-year-old Shanghai Port has experienced an extraordinary journey. He is very well informed of that history, whether it be that Shanghai Port developed the first batch of “harbour cranes” which are adapted to its own loading needs, or the process and date of completion of the container terminal at Jungong Road.

What has surprised him the most was the Yangshan deepwater Port. As he said, the demolition of the old port area along the Yangtze River (including the Shiliupu wharf) and the selection of the Yangshan large islands on the East China Sea coast to build a deep-water port has been of great significance to Shanghai.

Before the opening of the Yangshan deepwater Port, Shanghai Port was an estuary port. Access between the inland areas and the sea was convenient, but with the advancement of technology, its docking capacity wasn’t enough to support large ships. Therefore, the port competitiveness could remain only at the Asian level.

The significance of the Yangshan deep-water port lies in the fact that Shanghai has crossed from an estuary port that relies on the development of the Huangpu River,to a seaport facing the sea, which has brought Shanghai Port from the center of Asia to the center of the world.

The fourth phase of the Yangshan Deepwater Port Project created the first fully automated container terminal in China. The annual container throughput of Shanghai Port exceeded 40 million TEUs, the largest in the world.

“It’s second to none! I had the privilege of visiting it already several times and every time I go there, it’s an impressive site!” His exclamatorytone is full of infinite respect for the Yangshan deep-water port.

In 2014, Lao Zhu spoke as a guest at the 6th International Exhibition for Logistics, Telematics & Transportation.