Coastal city aims to be shipping hub ( 2003-11-25 09:23) (China Daily)
Dalian could become Northeast
Asia's shipping and logistics hub after the completion of several gigantic port
terminals and deep-water berths, Dalian Mayor Xia Deren said.
The city is speeding up construction of a 300,000-ton crude oil import
terminal and a 250,000-ton ore import terminal, scheduled to go into operation
by the middle of next year. Two large container berths in its core Dayaowan port
will also be completed next year.
Dalian has applied to the General Administration of Customs to extend the
bonded zone from the Dagushan Peninsular area by 5 square kilometres to cover
Dayaowan, said Xia.
"The integration of the bonded zone and the port, once in place, will be a
great boost to Dalian's transshipping service," Xia said during a recent press
conference in Dalian.
Dalian is planning to improve the port's handling capacity to 150 million
tons and 5 million containers by 2010, with 83 deep-water berths being
constructed in the centre of the port.
By then, Dalian will become the largest transshipment centre for oil products
and ores in China.
With a handling capacity of 1.35 million containers last year, Dalian is
currently ranked seventh in domestic ports.
But Xia said the port will enjoy a 20 per cent yearly growth with the
recovery of the region's economy. More than 70 per cent of the imports and
exports in Northeast China go through Dalian.
The northeastern region is a perennial heavy industrial base that played a
central role in China's economic lifeline, but has sunk to a low point in the
past decade, largely due to heavy taxation burdens and an over-staffed State
sector.
In the meantime, Dalian's rank in domestic ports slid to seventh from a peak
of second after Shanghai.
In a backup scheme released in August, the central government has decided to
"rejuvenate" the Northeast into a new economic powerhouse paralleling the Pearl
River Delta, the Yangtze Delta and the Beijing region.
