A strong maritime transportation means a strong national transportation, and a strong port means a national prosperity. Recently, the Ministry of Transport, the United Nations Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and other nine departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Construction of World-Class Ports" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"), and proposed to build a world-class port by 2050. The development of Chinese ports in the next 30 years has set the direction. How to build a world-class port? What should we focus on in the future? Where is our world class port group? Our reporter conducted an interview.
How good is the foundation?
When discussing the scale of ports in the water industry, container throughput (TEU) and cargo throughput (tonnes) are often used for calculation. Based on these two indicators, what is the basis for China to build a world-class port?
According to statistics, in the 2018 global port (scale) ranking, Shanghai Port topped the scale of containers with 42.01 million TEUs. This has been Shanghai Port's top position for nine consecutive years. In terms of cargo throughput, last year it ranked No. One is Ningbo Zhoushan Port. From the perspective of China as a whole, by the end of 2018, China's ports had 23,919 berths for production, which was 148.6 times that of 1949. In 2018, China's port cargo throughput reached 14.35 billion tons and container throughput was 251 million TEU, ranking first in the world in scale. Among them, the cargo throughput of 7 ports reached more than 500 million tons, and the container throughput of 8 ports reached more than 10 million TEU. Among the global container port rankings, the top 10 China accounts for 7 of them.
Jia Dashan, deputy director and chief economist of the Water Transport Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, said that China's ports are entering a critical period of transition from a "first-class port" to a "first-class port", and building a world-class port has a good foundation. An important factor is that China already has a number of internationally competitive transportation companies. At present, China has two major global terminal operators. COSCO Shipping Port relies on the advantages of China Ocean Shipping Group's liner company, and China Merchants Port relies on the advantages of China Merchants Group and its own long-term investment and operation of terminals. In 2018, the nominal throughput of containers reached more than 100 million TEU, ranking the top two in the world.
China also has the world's largest port engineering construction company, China Communications Construction Co., Ltd., which has become the world's largest port design and construction company, the world's largest dredging company, the world's largest container crane manufacturing company, and the world's largest offshore oil company. The drilling platform design company has become an integrated investor in world infrastructure and an integrator of marine heavy industry and port machinery manufacturing.
Where is the weak link?
In terms of scale of operation, many Chinese ports have entered the "world-class". However, many experts believe that if a port is to be recognized as "world-class", it must not only lead in terms of business scale, but also need to achieve achievements in port facilitation, green development, service quality and regional integration.
Zheng Tianxiang, a professor at the Sun Yat-Sen University's Hong Kong-Macao Pearl River Delta Research Center, said, "In terms of shipping services, the development of China's ports is not outstanding. For example, the Port of London, although its throughput is not the highest in the world, but it is in shipping registration, shipping arbitration, and shipping transactions In other aspects, that is, in terms of shipping services, London has a full industrial chain and occupies a large share of the world's shipping. This is the world-class port. "
The Guiding Opinions focuses on the weak links in the development of China's ports, and proposes to focus on improving the comprehensive service capabilities of ports, accelerating the construction of green ports, accelerating the construction of smart ports, accelerating the development of open integration, accelerating the construction of safe ports, and modernizing the port governance system. 19 key tasks in all aspects.
The reporter noticed that accelerating the construction of green ports, accelerating the construction of smart ports, and accelerating the development of safe ports occupied eight tasks in three areas. "Green, intelligent and safe development" is the weak link in port development.
Fortunately, in China, building a green and smart port has become the industry consensus. In May of this year, the Ministry of Transport and the seven departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Development of Intelligent Shipping". One of the ten tasks is to improve the level of information and intelligence of port terminals and shipping infrastructure. Subsequently, Yi Jiyong, deputy director of the Water Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, said at the "2019 China Sailing Day Forum" held in Ningbo that this year the Ministry of Transport will accelerate the construction of smart ports focusing on automated container terminals and use ships to port. Shore power is the grabber, focusing on reducing ship pollution emissions.
In terms of green port construction, a silent green defense battle has begun in all major ports. Take Ningbo Zhoushan Port as an example. From 2014 to 2018, the energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of Ningbo Zhoushan Port decreased by 25%, and the energy consumption per 10,000-ton throughput decreased by 23%, saving 184,800 tons of standard coal, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The emission reduction amounted to 480,000 tons. "During the construction of the green port, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has received good development and economic returns. The construction of the green port has brought valuable wealth to both enterprises and society." Xiang Jiangang, deputy general manager of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group, said.
As for the construction of smart ports, various parts of China are also rushing to propose the construction of smart ports, and the related transformation and construction of container terminals in various ports are also speeding up. For example, Qingdao Port Automated Container Terminal has successfully completed the control operation of automatic quay cranes based on 5G connections, enabling the capture and transportation of containers via wireless networks. In the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with the establishment of China Merchants Group's 5G Smart Port Innovation Lab, Shenzhen Qianhai Haixing Port has started the construction of 5G smart ports and will explore the application of 5G in the port industry and global supply chain.
The Guiding Opinions also pointed out the direction for the next step of smart port construction, and proposed key tasks such as building an intelligent port system and accelerating the construction of smart logistics. By 2025, some coastal container hub ports will initially form an intelligent system with comprehensive perception, ubiquitous interconnection, and port-vehicle coordination. By 2035, the container hub port will basically have an intelligent system.
Pilot first and then promote?
How to promote the construction of world-class ports? Relevant experts and scholars put forward their views. Jia Dashan believes that it is necessary to set benchmarks for first-class ports, strengthen the demonstration effect, and accelerate the pilot work of "world-class ports." "Choose ports with good conditions from coastal ports and carry out pilot work on 'world-class ports'. Through the first-class matching of internal factors such as facilities, technology, management, etc., it will form an industry demonstration and leading role."
So, which ports are more likely to be selected as pilot ports?
Currently, in the global container port rankings, Shanghai Port is ranked first, followed by Singapore Port (No. 2), Ningbo Zhoushan Port (No. 3), Shenzhen Port (No. 4), Guangzhou Port (No. 5), and Busan Port (No. 6th) Hong Kong Port (7th), Qingdao Port (8th), Tianjin Port (9th), Dubai Port (10th).
In Mainland China, according to container throughput data at the end of 2018, the top 10 ports are Shanghai Port, Ningbo Zhoushan Port, Shenzhen Port, Guangzhou Port, Qingdao Port, Tianjin Port, Xiamen Port, Dalian Port, Yingkou Port, and Suzhou Port.
It can be seen that the most important ports in China are mainly located in the Bohai Bay, the East China Sea and the South China Sea. The above 10 ports are bound to be the first ones to enjoy good documents, and they are most likely to be shortlisted for the pilot ports.
Jia Dashan believes that after comprehensive evaluation and analysis of indicators, the domestic comprehensive ports are exemplified by Shanghai Port, Shenzhen Port, Ningbo Zhoushan Port, and Qingdao Port, and bulk cargoes are demonstrated by the Huanghua Port coal loading.
Where is the world-class port group?
According to the "Guiding Opinions", by 2050, world-class ports will be fully built and several world-class port groups will be formed. "This means that the integration war between the major ports will be more intense in the future, which is extremely beneficial to large ports, because they have since annexed and have policy support." A head of a northern port group told reporters.
At present, in the Yangtze River Delta port group, Ningbo and Zhoushan Port have long been merged. Shanghai, through a Donghai Avenue, annexed Yangshan Port, which originally belonged to Zhoushan.
Regarding the port group around the Bohai Sea, significant progress has been made in the integration of coastal ports in Shandong Province this year. Shandong Port Group Co., Ltd. has been established. One. Substantial progress has also been made in the integration of ports in Liaoning Province. China Merchants Group and Liaoning Province have joined hands to integrate Dalian Port and Yingkou Port. The Liaoning Port Group has been established, which has opened the curtain of the integrated development of Liaoning coastal economic belt.
In addition to the integration drama, many ports have chosen to strengthen interaction and cooperation rather than annexation and reorganization. Rujin Port has changed from "adversary" to "partner" in the past, forming a "you have me, you have me" relationship. In August 2014, Tianjin Port Group and Hebei Port Group jointly invested and held 50% shares to establish Bohai Jinji Port Investment Development Co., Ltd. In mid-2017, Bohai Jinji Port Investment Development Co., Ltd. acquired 90% of Huanghua Port Container Terminal Equity. In December 2016, Tianjin Port and Tangshan Port jointly funded the establishment of Jintang International Container Terminal Co., Ltd. to jointly operate the container transportation business in Jingtang Port Area. In 2018, Jintang International Container Company completed a throughput of 2.33 million TEUs.
Looking at the South China Sea, in the future, the port group of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area may also undergo a new round of adjustment. The famous self-media "Gongzi Xiaobai" believes that due to the three customs zones and four core cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the ports are more intensified in interaction and cooperation than in the annexation of the Yangtze River Delta and the Bohai Rim.
"Integrating and cooperating with all ports is bound to be a high-level decision, which will be conducive to misplaced competition, enhance strength, and help build a world-class port group," said an analyst at the CITIC Securities Wuhan Sales Department.
People in the industry generally believe that world-class port clusters will emerge from the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Rim, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Source: China Waterway Network
