Text: Modern Logistics News, reporter Ma Jingze
The port industry is an important part of China's national economy and a window to the outside world. In 2023, with the remarkable achievements in China's epidemic prevention and control and the recovery of the economy and society, China's port industry will usher in an inflection point. In the first three quarters of 2023, the cargo throughput of ports across the country will be 1254 billion tons, an increase of 8 over the same period last year5%, with the support of national policies such as the Action Plan for Promoting the High-quality Development of Rail-Water Intermodal Transport (2023-2025), the high-quality development of the port industry has entered a new stage. This newspaper has summarized and sorted out the important events in the port industry this year for readers.
January
On January 13, the Ministry of Transport publicly issued the "Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Natural Disaster Risks in Port Disaster-bearing Bodies", emphasizing that local transportation authorities, port administrative departments, port operators, and port infrastructure maintenance departments and units should do a good job in the implementation of the "Guidelines" in combination with the actual situation, strengthen risk research and judgment and hierarchical control, strengthen multi-departmental information linkage and detection level, start emergency response in a timely manner, strengthen emergency response and post-disaster recovery, and minimize the risk and loss of natural disasters.
On January 17, the Shanghai Minhang Maritime Safety Bureau implemented port state supervision on the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged ship C berthing at the Longwu Port terminal. This is the first time that port state supervision and inspection has been carried out on foreign ships with mechanical and electrical faults since the normalization of port state supervision requirements for foreign ships in the waters of the Huangpu River at the Port of Shanghai has been restored. The Minhang Maritime Safety Administration will continue to strictly supervise the safety of ships with mechanical and electrical equipment failures, urge enterprises to implement the main responsibility of production safety, build a pattern of co-governance and sharing of water safety, and continue to maintain the stability of the water safety situation.
February
On February 13 and 14, Jiangsu held a symposium on port work in Jiangsu Province to review and summarize the port work in Jiangsu Province and plan the focus of work in the next stage. Mei Zhengrong, deputy director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Transportation, said that in 2022, a breakthrough will be made in the large-scale construction of deep-water ports in Jiangsu Province, with 31 new berths of more than 10,000 tonsThe province's ports have completed a cargo throughput of 32400 million tons, a record high. In 2023, Jiangsu will further promote the high-quality development of ports and promote the transformation of Jiangsu from a large port province to a strong port province.
On February 20, Shandong Port (Southeast Asia)** was officially unveiled, becoming the first overseas regional company established by Shandong Port. The company is a new practice of Shandong Port to strengthen global resource allocation, expand overseas markets, and seek emerging formats and market opportunities, and will promote cooperation with partners such as the world's leading shipping companies, first-hand resource providers, and well-known enterprises, so as to accelerate the construction of world-class marine ports, world-class enterprises, and provide assistance for high-level opening up.
On February 23, Hebei Port Group and Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd. jointly signed the "World-class Port Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement". The two sides will strengthen the coordinated development of ports in the two provinces and cities, actively promote exchanges and cooperation in the field of container routes, and open direct container shipping routes from Qinhuangdao Port, Tangshan Port and Huanghua Port to Shanghai Port.
March
On March 14, the "Action Plan for Promoting the High-quality Development of Rail-Water Intermodal Transport (2023-2025)" jointly issued by the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the General Administration of Customs, the State Railway Administration, and the China State Railway Group was publicly released. The plan points out that all departments and relevant units should establish a coordinated promotion mechanism, increase policy support, and promote the high-quality development of rail-water intermodal transport from many aspects: first, strengthen the integration and improve the level of facility connectivity;The second is to strengthen organizational coordination and improve the level of intermodal transportationThe third is to strengthen innovation and development and improve the efficiency of intermodal transport servicesFourth, strengthen overall planning and coordination and create a good environment for development.
On March 22, the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation officially issued a business license for the shipping industry of the National Energy Group. The company will fully perform the management responsibilities of the port industry and manage the subordinate Huanghua Port, Tianjin Port and Zhuhai Port in a unified manner, which will help China Energy Group accelerate the construction of a world-class energy and shipping enterprise and bring the development of the shipping industry to a new level.
On March 29, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Ministry of Water Resources issued the "Notice on Accelerating the Reconstruction and Expansion of Coastal and Inland Port Terminals", proposing to fully understand the importance of accelerating the reconstruction and expansion of the wharf, accurately grasp the scope of the wharf reconstruction and expansion work, promote the four types of reconstruction and expansion projects such as the wharf grade improvement project, reasonably optimize the requirements of the wharf reconstruction and expansion procedures, and do a good job in the organization and implementation of the wharf reconstruction and expansion.
In April
On April 6, COSCO SHIPPING Group, CMA CGM Group and SIPG Group jointly signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Carrying out Port Marine Green Methanol** Cooperation", and the three parties will work together to procure, ** and deliver marine green methanol fuel for CMA CGM and COSCO SHIPPING's future dual-fuel methanol fleet in major ports in China, including Shanghai Port.
On April 12, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued the Notice on Regulating the Ship-to-Shore Berthing of Waterway Passenger Ships to comprehensively improve the safety management level of waterway passenger ships and promote the standardized operation of waterway passenger ships. The "Circular" pointed out that all relevant departments should standardize the docking of passenger ships at port terminals, the docking stations of passenger ships outside ports, and the berthing ports of passenger ships, so as to further strengthen daily management.
On April 20, the unveiling ceremony of the China Water Traffic Safety Association and the first China Water Traffic Safety Association Development Symposium were held in Beijing, and representatives from 19 units, including relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Transport, institutes and maritime colleges and universities, and shipping experts attended the unveiling ceremony and attended the meeting. The China Water Traffic Safety Association is the only national social organization in the field of water traffic safety in China, and its predecessor is the China Water Fire Protection Association approved by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It has branches such as water fire fighting, water and underwater operation safety, and ports.
In May
On May 18, the 2023 Green and Safe Port Conference and the 2nd Beibu Gulf Green Port Development Forum were held in Nanning, where nearly 900 representatives from port enterprise groups, port equipment manufacturing enterprises, and scientific research institutes from all over the country conducted in-depth exchanges on the theme of "Building a Safe Line of Defense and Creating a Low-carbon Future".
On May 18, local time, the World Bank released the third edition of the Global Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), pointing out that global port operations have now improved significantly after the unprecedented disruption caused by the epidemic to container transportation. According to the report, in 2022, Yangshan Port's operational efficiency still ranked first in the world. Other Chinese ports in the top 10 include the Port of Ningbo (ranked seventh) and the Port of Guangzhou (ranked ninth).
On May 31, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transport issued the "Guangdong Province Green Port Action Plan (2023-2025)". It is pointed out that it is necessary to vigorously promote the green development of the whole process of the port, build a green and efficient port collection and distribution system, increase the promotion and application of new energy and clean energy, and initially form a green and low-carbon production mode of the port by 2025, steadily improve the level of coordinated development of resources and environment, and help the high-quality development of ports in the province.
In June
On June 1, the Huangshan-Ningbo Zhoushan Port sea-rail intermodal container train departed from Huangshan for the first time, and the train loaded with 30 standard container goods departed from the Huangshan Freight Station and headed for Ningbo Zhoushan Port. After the renovation and upgrading of the Huangshan freight station is put into use, the containers that can be transported by sea-rail intermodal transport can directly depart from Huangshan and arrive at Ningbo Zhoushan Port in 3 to 4 days, which can reduce the transportation cost of enterprises in various districts and counties in Huangshan City by about 30%.
On June 2, China's self-developed ultra-large container ship "Michele Cappelini" made its maiden voyage, and the first stop of the ship docked at Ningbo Zhoushan Port to start its shipping journey. The total length of the container ship is 3999 meters, 613 meters, depth 335 meters, the number of containers reached 24,346 TEUs, with completely independent intellectual property rights, carrying capacity, load capacity and number of containers and other indicators are the highest level in the world.
On June 12, the Chongqing dry port project passed the completion acceptance, marking that the main construction of the project has been completed, and Chongqing and other western inland provinces, autonomous regions and cities are one step closer to "going to sea".
July
On July 18, the main forum of the 7th Maritime Silk Road Port International Cooperation Forum was held in Ningbo, at which China Economic Information Service and the Water Transport Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport jointly released the "Comprehensive Evaluation Report on World-class Ports (2023)". The evaluation results show that the highest comprehensive evaluation level of the world's 34 sample ports in 2022 is 874 points, with an average of 653 points. The report divides the top 10 ports with a comprehensive score into two levels: "world-leading" and "world-leading". In the latest evaluation, the Port of Singapore and the Port of Shanghai maintained the "world-leading" level.
On July 20, Xiasha Port, Hangzhou's first 1,000-ton inland port, was put into trial operation. Hangzhou Xiasha Port was built by Hangzhou Port Group, a subsidiary of Hangzhou Communications Investment Group, in 3 years, with a total area of about 373 acres, 9 designed 1,000-ton berths and an annual throughput of 3 million tons.
On July 25, the launching ceremony of the Hefei Inland River Container Center Project of Shanghai Port was held in Hefei Paihe Port. In the future, the Hefei-Shanghai Waigaoqiao voyage will be compressed to 55 hours, and the Hefei-Taicang-Yangshan journey will not exceed 144 hours. The start of operation of the project marks that Hefei foreign trade enterprises have added a logistics channel with high efficiency, excellent cost and good service, which provides a broader stage for Hefei to better integrate into the integration of the Yangtze River Delta and strengthen the docking with the international market, industry and logistics.
August
On August 2, the 2023 Fortune Global 500 list was released simultaneously, with a total of 142 Chinese companies shortlisted in the world's top 500, and many companies in the field of port and shipping ships on the list. Among them, China COSCO Shipping Group *** with 931$800 million in revenue, ranking 115th on the list;China Shipbuilding Group *** with 517With a revenue of $99.1 billion, it ranked 272nd.
On August 8, the General Office of the People's Government of Shandong Province publicly released the "Three-year Action Plan for the Construction of a World-class Port Cluster in Shandong Province (2023-2025)". With the goal of accelerating the construction of a safe, convenient, smart and green, cost-effective, supportive, integrated and open world-class port cluster, the plan implements six major improvement actions, including "building a first-class port infrastructure serving the world" and "building a world-leading smart green and safe port", so as to provide guidance for accelerating the construction of a world-class port group, enhancing the pivotal role and support capacity of Shandong port to serve the national strategy and integrate into the new development pattern.
On August 18, the inaugural ceremony of the container liner route from Wuhan Yangluo Port to Yunnan Shuifu Port was held in Wuhan. The route links Hubei in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and Yunnan in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, with a voyage of 15 days, and will become a logistics fast channel between Hubei and Yunnan provinces with the Yangtze River as a link. After the opening of the "Yangluo Port-Shuifu Port" direct container route, Wuhan Port has opened 17 domestic point-to-point container liner routes.
September
On September 12, the Ministry of Transport and the people of Shanghai jointly held a press conference. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Transport introduced at the press conference that China has become the world's largest shipowner, and the port cargo and container throughput has ranked first in the world for many years. At present, China's port cargo throughput and container throughput have ranked first in the world for many years, and China accounts for 8 and 7 of the top 10 ports in the world in terms of port throughput and container throughput respectively. At the same time, the inland river freight volume has ranked first in the world for many years, the inland river navigation mileage has ranked first in the world, and the Yangtze River trunk line has become the world's busiest inland waterway transportation and the largest volume for many years.
On September 19, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued the Notice on the Comprehensive Resumption of International Cruise Transportation. The "Notice" mentions that on the basis of the pilot resumption of international cruise transportation at Shanghai and Shenzhen cruise ports, the relevant departments have decided to fully resume international cruise transportation in and out of China's cruise ports from the date of issuance of this notice. The "Notice" said that international cruise ships carry a large number of passengers, long sea voyage time, and high emergency response requirements, and all localities should attach great importance to it, do a solid job in preparing for the resumption of sailing, and effectively protect the safety of people's lives and property.
On September 24, the 2023 Global Port Authority Roundtable was held in Shanghai, which was the first time that Shanghai has hosted the conference. The conference was attended by leaders and guests from 17 major port authorities at home and abroad, including the Port of Singapore, the Port of Hamburg, the Port of Gothenburg, the Port of Yokohama, and the Port of Long Beach, and the guests delivered keynote speeches on the topics of "Development Trend of the Global Port and Shipping Industry in the Post-epidemic Era" and "Port Decarbonization and Sustainable Development", so as to jointly promote the green, smart, safe and resilient development of the global port and shipping industry.
On September 28, Guangzhou Yunfu International Logistics Port was officially opened. Yunfu International Logistics Port is a provincial and municipal key port project jointly built by the people of Yunfu City and Guangzhou Port Group, and the terminal business is mainly based on containers, general cargo, bulk cargo loading and unloading and warehousing. The project plans to build an inland river hub port of the Xijiang ** waterway, promote the integration of Yunfu Port into the core area of the port cluster of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and promote the industrial integration and coordinated development of Yunfu and Guangzhou.
October
On October 9, under the supervision of maritime patrol boats, the oil supply vessel "Citrix 21" completed the replenishment of about 325 tons of marine B24 biofuel oil for a Hong Kong, China container ship "Newmingzhou60" at Mazhi anchorage in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province after about four hours of operation. This marks the successful landing of the "ship-to-ship" biofuel bunkering operation of the first offshore anchorage container ship in China in Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, the world's largest port.
On October 23, the fourth 300,000-ton ** terminal of Rizhao Port in Shandong Port was officially put into operation. After the fourth 300,000-ton ** wharf is put into operation, it will add 18 million tons of throughput capacity, so far, Rizhao Port Lanshan Port has become the first single port area with four 300,000-ton ** wharves in China. Relying on 5 first-class long-distance pipelines and more than 1,700 cubic meters of storage capacity, Rizhao Port will become a 100-million-ton first-class distribution center with the strongest annual passing capacity and the most complete supporting facilities for large, medium and small berths. The General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Safe Construction Sites for Highway and Water Transport Projects".
On October 26, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport publicly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Safe Construction Sites for Highway and Water Transport Projects". The "Opinions" pointed out that all relevant units should accelerate the realization of full coverage of the construction of safe construction sites for highway and water transportation projects, implement the responsibility for safe construction site construction, implement key tasks such as "further promoting the standardization of construction safety" and "strengthening the hierarchical control of construction safety risks", improve the modern engineering safety management system, and ensure the high-quality development of transportation infrastructure construction with a high level of safety management efficiency.
November
On November 1, the third phase of the Taicang port project No. 9 and No. 10 berths left behind the project successfully passed the completion acceptance, so far, the first to fourth phase of the terminal of Taicang Port in Jiangsu Province connected to the last piece of the "puzzle", a total of 18 berths of 5932 meters of container coastline were all opened, and the status of Taicang Port as the largest container port on the Yangtze River, the largest port in foreign trade in Jiangsu, and the largest port for inland containers in the country has been further consolidated.
On November 13, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued the "Port Service Guide" to guide port operators and port tally business operators to further improve service quality and improve the efficiency of port loading and unloading and transshipment. The Guidelines standardize the basic processes and service requirements for port operators and port tally operators to provide port services, and encourage port operators and port tally operators to continuously improve and expand the service functions of the online business handling platform, and timely publish information on port openings and ships on the online platform.
On November 22, the Maritime Safety Administration of the Ministry of Transport officially issued the "China Coastal Port Guide (South China Sea Area)" and "China Coastal Port Guide (Northern Sea Area)", in order to promote the development of the port economy and ensure the safety of ships entering and leaving the port to provide guidance, ships entering and leaving Tangshan Port, Qingdao Port, Guangzhou Port and other 42 ports 141 port areas have a "navigation strategy".
December
On December 5, the country's first port-led general cargo multimodal transport development alliance was established in Yantai. The alliance was initiated by Yantai Port, Shandong Port, and was composed of 16 units, including associations, ports, shipping companies, logistics companies, and project enterprises, to carry out in-depth exchanges on the current industry problems faced by general cargo transportation and suggestions for the development of multimodal transportation of general cargo in the next step, so as to jointly promote the high-quality development of global general cargo flow.
On December 8, Tianjin Port Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Jiangsu Port Group. According to the agreement, the two sides will comprehensively deepen strategic cooperation in port operation, port, shipping and cargo coordination, market joint marketing, business innovation collaboration, smart green port construction, talent exchange and training based on the principle of complementary advantages and win-win cooperation, and better implement the national strategies such as the construction of the "Belt and Road", the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the high-quality development of regional integration in the Yangtze River Delta.
On December 13, the three-stage project of No. 6 to No. 10 container terminal project in Meishan Port Area of Ningbo Zhoushan Port (referred to as Meishan Phase II Project) successfully passed the completion acceptance organized by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Transportation.