According to the municipal unified deployment, Guangzhou Port is responsible for taking the lead to develop the three-year action plan for the construction of an international shipping center. The reporter learned the news from Guangzhou Port Affairs Bureau on March 16. By 2017, the port will achieve cargo throughput of 550 million tons and container throughput of 2000 TEUs, and strive to rank among the top 15 in global shipping center evaluation, said the draft of the action plan.

 

“Guangzhou Port is forging an international shipping center and has a huge growth potential,” said the director of China Shipping Container Lines Company Limited. With the economic transformation and upgrade in South China and the placement of Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Nansha, the container throughput of Nansha port is expected to have a rapid growth.

 

“Guangzhou enjoys incentives of national development strategies for Nansha New Area, Guangdong Free Trade Zone Nansha Area and the 21^st Century Maritime Silk Road. These are the resource and policy advantages for building Guangzhou into an international shipping center,” said Chang Min, director of Guangzhou Port Affairs Bureau. We should integrate the construction of Guangzhou international shipping center into the state’s development strategy on the 21^st Century Maritime Silk Road, utilize the area’s policy advantages for pilot operation and geographical advantages for bordering Hong Kong and Macao, learn experience from advanced international shipping centers in the countries along the 21^st Century Maritime Silk Road based on the Pearl River Delta, improve the city’s international core competitiveness and influence to boost Guangzhou’s collaborative development of international shipping center, financial center and commercial center.

The three-year action plan, still a draft now, will be further amended and improved according to opinions and suggestion of experts and scholars, said the person in charge of relevant department of Guangzhou Port Affairs Bureau.

 

Source: Nanfang Daily, March 16, 2015