China coastal ports capacity reaches 4b tonnes

The comprehensive traffic capacity of China's coastal ports is estimated to have reached four billion tonnes by the end of 2007, according to Xiao Daxuan, deputy director of the Water Transport Department of Chinese Ministry of Communications.

Xiao said China's water transportation has achieved big progress in recent years, which has fully played the advantages of large volume transport, low cost and small pollution. A batch of crude oil, iron ore, coal, container wharves and deep-water channels have been constructed and put into use.

Xiao predicted that by the end of this year, China's coastal ports will boast 5,340 productive berths, including 1,391 deep-water berths witch capacity able to accommodate above 10,000 dwt vessels. The coastal ports' comprehensive traffic capacity will amount to four billion tonnes and their container throughput is to reach 88.49 million TEUs.

According to Xiao, China has built up five port groups respectively in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Bohai Rim, the southeastern coast and the southwestern coast.