A mega-port project under construction on the Eastern China Sea will turn Shanghai into the shipping hub of northeast Asia, with complete logistic facilities and surging foreign trade as support, said officials yesterday.
"The shortage of container capacity in Shanghai and limited water depth in local waters have been a bottle-neck for the city from becoming an international shipping center," said Zhang Huimin, Shanghai's deputy secretary general. Zhang spoke yesterday at a press conference at the Yangshan Deep-water Port construction headquarters.
"When the Yangshan port is completed by 2020, Shanghai can realize its ambition," Zhang said.
Yangshan Deep-water Port is being built on two islands 27 kilometers from Luchaogang in the southern Nanhui District.
So far, 3.5 billion yuan (US$421 million) has been spent after a year of construction, about 24.5 percent of the anticipated total in-vestment in the first-phase construction, which includes a 31.8-kilometer-long cross-sea bridge and five berths.
The bridge linking Luchaogang with Xiaoyangshan, the smaller of the two islands, has advanced by 3.6 kilometers. It has three lanes on each direction.
Parts of the groundwork and dikes on the island have been completed.
Relocation of 1,423 families on the island has been completed, six months ahead of schedule, said officials.
By 2005, the new port will be able to handle more than 3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) annually. With four more berths to be completed in 2006, the figure will rise to 5.5 million.
When the port is completed by 2020, it will be able to handle more than 20 million TEUs every year. The world's busiest port, Hong Kong, handled 19 million TEUs last year.
Officials said the designed capacity is in line with the city's economic growth.
"Design of the port's capacity is based on the outlook of the city and its neighboring regions' trading volume in the following years, so we're quite sure that there won't be any waste of ports by then," said Gui Mo, one of the directors at the construction headquarters.
Since officials believe the new ports won't be in competition with existing ports in Shanghai because of demand, the city will proceed with the plan of adding capacity to existing port areas.
The fifth phase of Waigaoqiao port will kick off within the year and construction will be completed by the end of 2004, Gui said.
Last year, Shanghai's ports handled 8.61 million TEUs, about 134 percent of their designed capacity.
Supporting infrastructure plans are also being drafted for the port.
City officials disclosed that a railway will be built in the near future to link Luchaogang with the city's major freight facilities and industrial parks.
"The Pudong railway line is currently under planning and some preliminary work has started," said Zhang, without giving more details about the railway. "Upon its completion, freight from around the city will be able to reach the bridge by railway."
In a long-term blueprint, there'll be a second cross-sea bridge between Luchaogang and the Yangshan islands. The bridge will allow trains to carry cargo directly from the Pudong Railway, rather than transferring to the vehicle-use bridge that is now under construction.