Qingdao undergoes major port expansion

PostTime:2009-10-27 09:59:20 View:1016

Qingdao Port, the seventh-largest port in the world, is gearing up to make itself the international freight center of Northeast Asia, constructing a series of new docks and developing a newly approved bonded area."Actually, we are building another Qingdao Port," said Tian Guangwen, vice president of Qingdao Port (Group) Co Ltd, referring to the new construction project in Dongjiakou, south of the port's 117-year-old base in Kiaochow Bay.In 2008, business at the port increased by 13 percent despite a gloomy economy. From January to July this year, traffic and revenues at Qingdao Port enjoyed 5 percent year-on-year growth.The port has gross capital of 21.7 billion yuan, with a debt ratio of 20 percent. And the company is going to clear off all debts within one year, according to port representatives.Tian said the first project being built at Dongjiakou is an iron ore dock requiring an investment of 3 billion yuan. Its partner will be Brazilian mining giant Vale, the largest iron ore producer in the world.Vale, which lists China as its main market, annually produces 300 million tons of iron ore.Tian said because of the economic slowdown, Vale is looking for ways to reduce costs."The transportation distance for Brazil's iron ore is very long, so huge ships are needed to cut the cost efficiently," Tian said.Serving larger shipsVale is planning to complete 16 ships, each with a capacity of 400,000 deadweight tons (dwt), and reportedly will launch the first ship in 2010. Each ship will save 30 percent in costs."How huge a ship can be depends on how huge a dock we have," said Wang Baosheng, vice head of the group business department for the Qingdao Port.Wang said the new dock at Dongjiakou will be the first in China to accommodate the ships large enough to carry 400,000 tons of minerals.The port will build four docks for ships with a 400,000-dwt capacity, two for ships with a 200,000-dwt capacity and five docks for ships with a 100,000-dwt capacity.According to the construction plan, 112 berths will be constructed at Dongjiakou, 21 more than at the existing port.Tian said the capacity of the new docks will be about 40 million tons in three to five years, exceeding the traffic of the existing Qingdao Port."Operations of all projects at Dongjiakou will begin in eight years. Once finished, the Qingdao Port is expected to surpass Pusan Port in South Korea, and realize our goal to become the international freight center of Northeast Asia," Wang said.Tian declined to reveal the total investment for the entire port expansion project.Dongjiakou is surrounded by seawater on three sides and a coastline of more than 29 km. The natural depth near shore averages 15 m, and the depth increases to 20 m at a distance of 1,000 m from the shore.Connections with international freight lines, highways and railroads are added advantages at Dongjiakou.Being a natural deepwater port, free of silt and freezing, the port has established trade relations with more than 450 ports in more than 130 countries and regions.Bonded portAs part of its expansion project, Qingdao Port also is developing a bonded port area to attract more domestic and international resources.On Sept 1, the Qianwan Bonded Port Area was approved as the seventh of its kind in China.The 9.8 sq m first phase consists of eight container berths, two multifunctional berths, and dock operations for comprehensive logistics, international logistics and export machining.The area will provide bonded service for foreign and domestic cargo."The area will boost development of Qingdao Port in the future. And companies will enjoy convenient customs formalities, favorable tax policies, less trade restrictions and so on," Wang said.Ren Minqiang, head of Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal Co Ltd, (QQCT), said the bonded area is a chance for the port to become an international container transfer facility."We should take advantage of the policies and increase container quantity first, then attract cargos from Pusan Port with our great service," Ren said.In 2005, Pusan Port invested 8 billion dollars to expand and maintain its leading role in Northeast Asia.Other Chinese ports -- including Shanghai's Yangshan Port, Dalian Port and Tianjin Port -- are also eying expansion plans.

China's Qingdao Port Oil 2nd phase completes construction

PostTime:2009-08-05 08:42:25 View:1004

Shanghai Securities News reported that Qingdao Port Oil 2nd Phase new added pipeline project has finished construction and started the operation ceremony of liquefaction wharf at Qingdao in Shandong province.The project, with the investment of CNY 11.3 million meaning two new added DN700 fuel oil pipelines started the construction on February 28th this year. To the new added liquefaction wharf project invested by CNY 24.2 million with the whole length of 6,000 meters was planned to complete the construction in four months.

Port of Qingdao container throughput up 2 percent in first half of year

PostTime:2009-07-16 08:51:29 View:1000

EASTERN China's port of Qingdao handled 5.09 million TEU during the early half of year, up two per cent compared to the same period last year.The port's cumulative throughput in the same period climbed five per cent to 158 million tonnes, Xinhua reported.According to Chang Dechuan, president of Qingdao Port Group, the company achieved an increase of two per cent in its revenue and five per cent in its profit in the first half.

Qingdao's cargo volume becomes second largest in China

PostTime:2008-02-18 07:37:01 View:1345

QINGDAO customs handled 282 million tons of foreign trade cargo last year, which was the second largest volume among all cities in China, Logistics Week reported.Customs collected CNY60.1 billion (US$8.4 billion) in duties, which was the fourth largest in China.The report said the growth in trade cargo volume was a result of Qingdao customs efforts in cooperating with hinterland city customs to offer one-stop clearance services to facilitate trade, which has won more transshipments from inland areas.The Qingdao customs has been cooperating with 10 hinterland customs on one-stop clearance service. Last year, transshipments from hinterland regions in surrounding Shandong province came to 110 million tons and amounted to 39 per cent of total provincial trade volume.

Qingdao hits 9.4 million TEU in 2007, port rises from 10th to 7th place

PostTime:2008-01-11 08:13:06 View:1288

QINGDAO handled 265 million tons, and 9.4 million TEU in 2007 signalling its rise on the national port league tables from 10th to seventh place, Xinhua reported.The port also set a daily container handling record by lifting 30,175 TEU from 6pm of January 2 to 6pm of January 3, the report said.Qingdao throughput growth held steady in 2007 without additional port capacity, the increase being ascribed to stronger connections between the harbour and railways, customs and shippers, the report said.Qingdao Customs signed regional cooperation agreements with inland customs authorities of Hefei, Shijiazhuang and Yichuan in 2007, attracting more inland cargo to transship, the report said.The goal of Qingdao port in 2008 is to handle 300 million tons and 10 million TEU, the report added.

Mediterranean Shipping launches routes from Qingdao

PostTime:2008-01-08 08:22:53 View:1239

Mediterranean Shipping Company commences a co-operation with China Merchants International Terminal (Qingdao) in 2008.The terminal of China Merchants in Qingdao in the eastern China will be the port of call of three MSC ships. In the alliance, a weekly container carrier to the Black Sea of 6,700 TEU commences services on January 3.MSC will launch one vessel to Europe and another to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to provide weekly services.MSC anticipates the three ships to achieve a whole-year traffic of 600,000 TEUs in total.The terminal has launched two 100,000-tonne container berths. The total throughput is 1.2 million TEUs per year. The co-operation with MSC will develop Qingdao into an international shipping centre in the northeastern Asia.

Qingdao joins LCL service to US

PostTime:2008-01-02 10:25:55 View:1982

OceanGuaranteed, less-than-container-load (LCL) cargo service to the US, recently added Qingdao, China, to its growing list of Asian origin ports. It’s the second expansion of the service since it was introduced in September of 2006 by APL Logistics and Con-way Freight. With the latest expansion, LCL customers can use OceanGuaranteed to ship from four ports in China – Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong – as well as Yokohama, Japan, Busan, Korea, Singapore and Kaoshiung, Taiwan. By adding Qingdao, OceanGuaranteed has significantly expanded options for shippers seeking port-to-door delivery to the US."Customers who need to expedite shipments of, say, electronic goods and automotive parts, as well as those factories and customers that have experienced production delays or accelerated ship windows, are now able to take advantage of this great value alternative to international air freight out of Qingdao,” said Paul Tay, vice-president of APL Logistics in greater China. “With this premium ocean-truck service, shippers can be assured day-definite transits of just 14 to 20 days from Qingdao to U.S. destinations including door delivery to 99.9 percent of zip codes across the US.”APL Logistics, a global supply chain services provider, and Con-way Freight, a leading North American less-than-truckload (LTL) trucking company, teamed up to introduce OceanGuaranteed as a premium ocean LCL-domestic US LTL service providing day-definite delivery and fast transit times for Asia export cargoes. At approximately one-fourth the cost of air freight, the programme is designed to speed shipments from Asia to the US, providing cycle time consistency and reliability with a money-back transit time guarantee.Utilising Con-way Freight’s dedicated fleet and transportation network of 460 operating locations, LCL shipments arriving at Los Angeles are delivered in an average of just four business days virtually anywhere in the continental United States.Shipments that fail to meet the delivery-day commitment (see transit table below) receive a 20 percent discount, subject to the terms of the service guarantee.Shipments are arriving on time 98.6 percent of the time, according to APL Logistics and Con-way Freight. Year-end figures aren’t yet available, but it was reported that OceanGuaranteed cargo volume increased five fold in the first half of 2007.

Qingdao hits world's top 10 with volume surpassing 9 million TEU

PostTime:2007-12-17 08:09:35 View:1279

UP to December 13, China's third largest container port, Qingdao, handled more than nine million TEU during 2007, up 23 per cent year on year and 18 days ahead of schedule, making it one of the top 10 container ports in the world.By the end of this year, the port's Qingwei Container Terminal is expected to see its throughput grow 31.6 per cent to 250,000 TEU. The Riqing Container Terminal's throughput is estimated to reach 430,000 TEU, a surge of 70 per cent over last year.

Qingdao to be logistics centre of China for Japan and South Korea

PostTime:2007-12-07 09:36:48 View:1787

QINGDAO will be developed as a regional logistics centre of China, Japan and South Korea in the next five years, Xinhua reported.Qingdao will develop three integrated logistics centres and nine specialised logistics bases by 2012, making it a logistics hub for the China, Japan and South Korea, the report said.The three planning logistics centres include Qianwan Port Logistics Centre, Airport Logistics Centre and Jiaozhouwan Overland Integrated Logistics Centre, the report said.The share of logistics in Qingdao's GDP is expected to improve to 12 per cent by 2012 and trade of Qingdao with southeast Asia, Europe and North America will grow at a faster pace, the report added.

Evergreen Marine to launch new China dock

PostTime:2007-12-06 08:53:03 View:1786

Taiwan-based shipping company Evergreen Marine Group will soon inaugurate a newly-built dock near China's Qingdao port.The US$300 million investment - launched two years ago - is aimed at providing logistics support to Evergreen vessels sailing between China, South Korea and Japan. The dock's unloading and other facilities will be inaugurated soon.The investment was made through Hong Kong's Pan Asia Company.Evergreen, with a fleet of about 100 container vessels, is Taiwan's largest shipping company.Taiwan strictly regulates investment in infrastructure projects in China. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949.But Taiwanese companies often bypass the restrictions by investing via their subsidiaries or other overseas firms.