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Hundreds of millions of yuan will be pumped into Binhai New Area, in the northern coastal city of Tianjin, in an effort to make it the heart of north-eastern Asia’s shipping network by 2015, the local government said.
With14.6 billion yuan in revenue in 2008, Binhai’s Tianjin port is currently the largest port in northern China, and the fifth largest in the world.
In a statement released on Tuesday, local authorities said an annual budget of 600 million has been set aside to further develop shipping facilities in the area.
They said by 2012, they expect Tianjin port to handle 460 million tons of goods and over 13 million containers every year.
With construction underway for the Dongjiang Bonded Area, which will cover 10-square-kilometers, the total value of Binhai’s shipping industry will exceed 100 billion yuan by 2012.
Hao Shouyi, vice director of the Binhai Administrative Committee, said he expects the area to have developed a free trade port, sound shipping services and efficient logistics by 2015.
“By then, the waterway of Tianjin Port will be wide enough for a 300,000-tonne-freighter and the port’s throughput will exceed 550 million tons of bulk and 17 million containers,” he said. “The added value of the shipping industry is expected to double from 2012, to more than 200 billion yuan.”
Along with Shanghai Port, it is one of only two ports featured on the latest list of China’s Top 500 Enterprises.
Local Authorities are considering additional preferential policies for international shippers, such as express channels for bonded goods, duty-free shopping, and visas .
They also plan to apply to the central authorities to be the first area to establish a registration system for international shipping, reforming the shipping duties process.
By Guo Changdong
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