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Building Shanghai

Shanghai’s growth as a shipping centre is carefully planned, explains Xu Baizhang, Director of Shanghai Municipal Government’s International Shipping Centre Construction Administration

Room for more: Shanghai is constantly expanding its capacity

As early as the 1930s, the port city of Shanghai was a world-renowned shipping hub in the Far

East. It gradually declined in the following decades – then, at the end of the 1970s, China introduced a policy of reform and opening-up. More significantly, in the early 1990s the Chinese government made the decision to “take the opening and development of Pudong as the key link in the further opening of the cities along the Yangtze River, and to build, as soon as possible, Shanghai into an international centre of economy, finance and trade to boost the new economic strides of the Yangtze Delta and even the whole Yangtze basin”.

Soon afterwards, the grand blueprint for building the Shanghai International Shipping Centre was drawn up. Accordingly, the Shanghai Municipal Government set up an administrative office in May 1996 to strengthen its leadership over the construction and development of the ports and shipping industries in Shanghai, so that it could better organise, coordinate and facilitate work in the various areas. In 2001, the Chinese government approved “The Overall Planning of Shanghai City Development”, which clearly defines the task of turning Shanghai into an international centre of economy, finance and trade by 2020.
The past seven years have witnessed great headway in this endeavour.

The Shanghai Shipping Exchange
Approved by the State Council and co-founded by the Ministry of Communications and the Shanghai Municipal Government, the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) was officially inaugurated on 28 November 1996.

Over the years, by centring on the three basic functions of “standardising transactions in the shipping market, regulating shipping market rates, and transmitting shipping information”, SSE has played an important role in improving the shipping market and the market service system. Authorised by the Ministry of Communications, SSE has implemented the freight filing system for international container liner services, thus standardising the market order of the shipping industry in Shanghai. Possessing many channels for gathering and disseminating information, SSE regularly compiles and publishes the China Export Container Freight Index (CCFI), which exerts a far-reaching influence upon the shipping industries both at home and abroad.

The Shanghai Combined Port Authority
Taking Shanghai as the centre and Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces as two wings, the Shanghai Combined Port Authority is a cross-regional administrative authority set up in September 1996, in charge of the container terminals in the regions. The Authority administers the deepwater shorelines involving container berths completed or to be completed in these areas: the Yangtze section down Wusongkou (the Huangpu river mouth) in Shanghai; the Yangtze section down the Nanjing Yangtze Bridge in Jiangshu Province; and Ningbo and Zhoushan water zones in Zhejiang Province. At present the Authority is working towards the goals of overall planning, rational division of work, coordinated development and full utilisation of the collective superiority of the ports.

Yangtze River Mouth channel deepening project – Phase I completed
The Phase I channel renovation project at the Yangtze River Mouth was officially started in January 1998 to facilitate the construction of container terminals at the river mouth, so as to accommodate future ultra-large containerships. This renovation project is conducted on the principle of “One integrated plan, phase-by-phase construction, and phase-by-phase effects”.

According to the plan, in about 10 years the river mouth channel will be deepened from the present 7.0 metres to 12.5 metres. The Phase I project was completed in May 2000, with a channel depth of 8.5 metres. Favourable conditions were thus created for the development of container terminals along the Yangtze River. Phase II of the project is now under way.

Shanghai Waigaoqiao container terminals renovation and construction
Through the Waigaoqiao Phase I project, four multi-purpose terminals have been converted specifically for container cargo. The five container berths started in 1998 according to the Phases II and III projects have been constructed and put into operation. Currently, the four container berths of the Waigaoqiao Phase 4 project are being built, scheduled for operation in 2003. The Port Authority of Shanghai has also renovated some wharves along the Huangpu River so that they are also suitable for container transport. Shanghai now boasts 22 container berths with an annual throughput of 6.15m TEUs.

Construction of the Shanghai deepwater port
The site for the Shanghai deepwater container port is the Big and Small Yangshan Islands. In June 2002, the Yangshan deepwater project was kick-started. In Phase I of the Yangshan deepwater port project, five berths with a total coastline of 1600 metres will be built to accommodate fifth- and sixth-generation containerships. The five berths will boast a forewater depth of more than 15 metres, with an annual throughput capability of 2.2m TEUs. They are due to function by 2005. Meanwhile, a 32-km Donghai Bridge linking up the two islands with the mainland will be built.

According to the overall plan for the Yangshan Deepwater Port, the port will have a total land area of 18 sq km and a deepwater coastline of 20km or so. Thus more than 50 large container berths could be built, with a throughput of more than 25m TEUs. By the year 2020, a 10km deepwater coastline accommodating more than 30 berths will have come into being in the north port (at Small Yangshan Island), and an additional throughput of more than 14m TEUs will be registered.

Last year, container traffic at Shanghai port recorded rapid growth, with more than 1300 inbound and outbound sailings per month. In 2002 Shanghai port handled 8.61m TEUs, up 2.3m TEUs (35%) over the previous year.

It is estimated that in the next few years international container traffic at Shanghai port will maintain its rapid growth momentum. We will, therefore, make unceasing efforts to revitalise Shanghai as an international shipping centre.

Author: Xu Baizhang, Director of the International
Shipping Centre Construction Administration,
Shanghai Municipal Government.

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