About two thousand years ago, Guangzhou Port was once the port of departure of “The Maritime Silk Road.”This important geographical location attracts a great number of influential merchants to this place. With the help of these merchants, Guangzhou becomes one of the main foreign trade cities in ancient China. Since the debut of the policy of reform and opening-up, Guangzhou Port, being the pivotal port for foreign trade as well as domestic trade, greatly brings along the export-oriented economincal development of Guangzhou and Zhujiang Delta Area.

Mr Zhang Guangning, the mayor of Guangzhou,summarises the relationship between Guangzhou and Guangzhou Port as follows:“They are complementing and supporting with each other.”Mr Zhang Guangning also comments when he is interviewed that this year is the 2222th anniversary of the founding of Guangzhou city, during this long ,long period of history, Guangzhou city has undergone a series of social changes,though, the truth is that it is always the economical and cultural center of South China. The secret of its everlasting prosperty is just the superiority of its geographical location.

At present, Guangzhou Port maintains burgeoning momentum of development.In 2007 alone, the volume of its handling capacity of cargo reaches 340 million tons. The number of the freight handled by container achieves 9.203 million Standard Containers. The handling capacity of the Port ranks the 5^th among the topest 10 ports in the world, all of these advantages once again enhance the comprehensive competitive ability of Guangdong province as well as Guangzhou city.

The Handling capacity of former Huangpu port and Nansha Port is also being enhanced. On Speaking of Guangzhou Port, we can not ignore the importance of Huangpu Port. Huangpu Port has a rather long and brilliant history (It is thousands’ years old).It was the departing port of the ancient “Maritime Silk Road,” and after a long period of transformation, in 1987,Huangpu Port was incorporated into Guangzhou port. The combination of the two becomes the current Guangzhou Port.

In 1999, Guangzhou Port’s handling capability breaks the record of 100 millon tons and successfully walks into the circle of International Top Ports with hundred million tons’ handling capacity.

Nevertheless, during the continuous, developing process, the administration staff of Guangzhou Port constantly confronts with the bottle-neck situation, that is, nowadays, large-tonnage barge becomes in vogue, therefore, the ship-building corporations place a high demand upon the specifications of sea-lane and the water depth of the pier, on the contrary, Guangzhou Port, being a inland harbour of Zhujiang River, its capability is far from satisfying the specification of Large-tonnage barge.

Then how to deal with it?  The situation is pressing, if any progress cannot be made from this, then it means that Guangzhou Port is falling behind. Besides, according to the stragetic plan proposed by Provincial Party Committee and Government of Guangdong province that Guangdong has to realize the Four Modernisations before 2020. Burdened with these pressures, Guangdong province is forced to find a new growth engine.

Under such circumstances, Provincial Party Committee and Government of Guangdong begin to focus their attention on the Nansha area which is located in the geometrical center of Zhujiang Delta, at the same time, has natural superior deep-water harbour. This place possesses the needed port as well as other suitable industry lay-out. It is the ideal carrier for upgradating the industrial structure of Guangdong province.

The strategy of Nansha Region Development provides Guangzhou port with another golden developing phase. The vice-General Manager of Guangzhou Port Company Group, Ltd. comments with a sign：“in 2001, Nansha Port began to be constructed, and the construction of the it made the Guangzhou Port transform from inland harbour to oversea port, and became the real seaport! ”Nansha Port area is located in the estuary of the west bank of Zhujiang, therefore, it has a rich shoreline resources. In addition, it is also situated in the geometrical center of Zhujiang Delta. To explain this superior location more clearly, if we draw a circle (whose radius is 60kilometers) around the Nansha Port, cities such as Guangzhou, Hongkong, Macao, Dongguan, Feshan, and Zhongshan are all covered by this circle. That is, one can have a very easy access to these cities from Nansha. If we draw a cicle (whose radius is 100kilometers) around Nansha Port, all the cities in Zhujiang Delta can be easily accessed.  

Mr Deng Guosheng, the general manager of Nahsha Port Co, Ltd comments that since the day Nansha Port was put into productin, it has rewritten the west bank of Zhujiang River’history of having non- super deepsea container pier, meanwhile,provides an engine for the economic development of the west bank of Zhujiang River.

He also said that in the first year alone, Nansha Port’s container-handling capacity has achieved 1.08 millon, in 2007, with newly-constructed second-phase port put into operation, its container-handling capacity will reach 4.428 millon, comparing to the same period last year, the rate of increment is 83.7%. It is estimated that the container-handling capacity will be over 6.8 million this year, which equals that of Guangzhou Port.

Currently, ten 0.1 million-tonnage-level deepsea births in Nansha Port, Xiaohu Petrochemistry Port (the largest petrochemical port in south China), and Nansha Shazai Island Roll-on-Roll-off Dock of Automobile,etc are all put into production in succession, all of which help Guangzhou Port realize the transformation from inlnd harbour to oversea port. Centered in Nansha Port, spreading all over the Zhujiang Delta and provinces located in its upper reaches, the gathering-dredging transporting network is coming into being. Guangzhou Port is transforming from former container branch line port into container mainline Port.

The overall layout of Guangzhou Port is thereby being optimized. Making the deepsea container dock of Nansha Port as a leading port, the Xinsha Port, Huangpu Port as assistant ports, they supplement and support with each other, and all of these constitute the new layout of Guangzhou Port.

Guangzhou once had the same developmental type with other cities in Zhujiang Delta. That is, developing from the Light Industry to Heavy Chemical Industry, the level of industrial development is always rising. In addition, their economic developments are mainly drived by export-oriented Light Industry. Nevertheless, as time goes by, due to the high commercial costs in Guangzhou, the labour intensive-industry of Hong kong is transferred to places such as Shenzhen, Dongguan, etc, which thereby poses a trick problem upon Guangzhou on how to develop large industry. 

“Such dilemma condition of Guangzhou is eased only until this century, especially by the development of Nansha Port, which enables Guangzhou to make full use of its superior geographical location in developing coast-related industry and heavy Chemical Industry.  All of these have made their respective contribution in uprising Guangzhou’s industrial level and upgrading its industrial structure.” said by Mr Dingli, the head of Research Department, Guangdong Academy of Social Science. In 2006, China’s largest Automobile Roll-on-Roll-off dock is put into production in Nansha Port. This dock owns three deepwater berths. Two of them are used for Automobile Roll-on-Roll-off ship only, and are capable of anchoring the largest Automobile Roll-on-Roll-off ship in the world and its year traffic capacity can reach 1 million. These two berths can hold 20000 cars each time, which greatly cuts down the shipping cost of Automobiles.

With the help of the Nansha’s superior port and its convient transportation, Nansha Auto Indurtry base begins to take shape after three years’ construction. After the settle-down of Guangzhou Toyota, the clustering-effect of industry emerges rapidly. Nowadays, One-stage Components Supplying companies of Toyota, such as Electronical Assembly, Sanwu, Yingtai, Zhongjing, etc, has already settled down in Nansha Auto-Components Park. At present, there are 13 companies that have already put into production, meanwhile, a group of second-stage or third stage components supplying-companies of Toyota have settled down in the park as well.

Currently, Auto Industry has already become the pilar industry in Guangzhou. In the first half year of 2007, the gross value of industrial output made by

Guangzhou Automobile Manufacturing Industry reaches 50.97 billion, comparing to the same period last year, the rate of increment is 35.9%, and the rate of its contribution to the industrial growth of the whole city achieves 26.5%.

Guangzhou owes its uprising and transformation to the Port. The advantage of having superior deep sea ports attracts a large number of port related industries to Nansha Development Zone and constitutes the near port economic cycle which covers eight main modern industries such as Automobile Manufacturing, Machinery Equipment,Ship Building, Port Logistics,Iron and Steel Industry,Petrochemical Industry,High-Technological Industry,Modern Service Industry,etc. From 2002 to 2007, Nansha port has imported 300 industrial projects in total.Among the world’s top 500 enterprises, 40 enterprises have already settled down in Nansha. (In 2002, there were only four of them) The 40 enterprises including the leading companies, such as, China Shipbuilding Group, Nansha Longxue Island Shipbuilding Base, Guangzhou JFE 400000 tons of hot galvanized Board, Eastern Electronical Heavy Machinery all have settled down in this place in succession. The settlement of these companies also attracts related industrial group to this place. All of these companies push forward the ecomomical development of near port in Guangzhou.

Meanwhile, with the settlement of high-value added modern service industries in this place, Modern Service System represented by modern logictics is also taking shape. At this moment,in order to put forward its development of Modern Service Industry, Nansha is speeding up its steps in constructing foreign trade exchanges which includes oil storage exchange based in Little Tiger Island, Grain Processing&storing exchange based in Wanqingsha andForeign trade importing& exporting exchange based in Longxue Island’s Bonded logistic function.

In addition, according to the introduction made by Mr Su Xingwang, the general manager of Xinsha Port Affair company, Ltd of Guangzhou Port Group.it is worth noting that the location of Xinsha Port was once the plantain field of Mayong town in Dongguan city which was once the most underdeveloped town in the whole city.In 1995, ever since the Xinsha Port was put into operation, the town also assumed an entirely newlook. Relying on Xinsha Port, Mayong-Xinsha Industrial Park and Mayong-Xinsha Logistic Park constitute the near-port industrial center.The trades in the area around the Port are very prosperous,and the logistics there are also clear of obstruction. A lot of large-size companies such as Grain Depot directly under Central Government, Tongyijiaji Plant, Huanong Fertilizer Manufacturing Plant, Jiucheng Papermaking Company, etc have set up branch factories here.

Mr Zhang Guangning, the mayor of Guangzhou city said that Guangzhou Municipal government would try their best in perfecting the developmental layout of near-port industry in future. That is, relying on the Nansha Port, the government will speed up their planed constructions of Nabsha International Key Logistics Park, Nansha Near-port Industrial Park, Huangge Industrial Park and Shipping Service Center which is located in the reaches of Jiaomen River; Depending on the Xinsha Port and Huangpu Port, the government will also quicken their pace in the construction of chain reaction between Guangzhou Development Zone and Eastern port as well as in the planed construction of Huangpu International Logistics Park.

Extending Economical Hinterland

Expanded from Zhujiang Delta to Pan-Zhujiang Delta, Guangdong Changhong Electronics Co. Ltd has itslocation in Zhongshan city. In the past, its oversea container shippings were always transferred, but since the employment of Nansha Port, all of the exporting goods of this company choose to be transported from Nansha Port. One counter, after one hour’s truck ride from Zhongshan to Nansha, then picks up the Red Sea shippingline international liner, after 18days’sailing,the goods will  be transported into Middle-East countries. The relevant man in charge of the company said，“Through this way, not only time is saved, but the charges are also cut down for about a half.” Mr Deng Guosheng added that before the employment of Guangzhou Port and Nansha Port, the exporting goods from Zhujiang Delta were transported mainly from the eastern bank of Zhujiang River which included Huangpu Port,Shenzhen Port,etc. Or, the exporting goods were transshipped in Hongkong. The exployment of Nansha Port rewrote the history of the west bank ofZhujiang having non large-sized deepsea container dock, meanwhile, connected all the channels in western parts of Zhujiang, and decreased the logistic costs of the goods inthe western bank ofZhujiang River.

In order to make full use of the hinterland resources along the western bank of Zhujiang, Guangzhou Port puts the “Zhujiang Strategy”into practice. That is, making full use of the richful network of rivers and the advantage of multimodal transports, enhancing the teamwork between Guangzhou Port and small-sized dock in Zhujiang Delta and speeding up the construction of Barge-Gathering&Evaculating system headed by Nansha Port.

Nowadays,the“Shuttle Service”(centered in Nansha Port Area)advanced by Guangzhou Port can get access to Hongkong, Zhaoqin,Dongguan, Shunde,Zhongshan,Sanshui,Fangcun, and small docks in the reaches of Zhujiang Delta,such as Guigang Port(in Guangxi province),former Huangpu Port and current Huangpu Port.

Guangzhou Port makes full use of Zhujiang golden waterway and its consummate surrounding highway network, tries to get easy access to the main cities in the west part of Zhujiang Delta through Nabsha Port Expressway,Jin zhu Expressway(from Beijing to Zhujiang),Jiangzhong Expressway(From Zhujiang to Zhongshan), so as to provide its customers with seamless transshipping services.

According to the introduction, in recent years, Guangzhou Municipal government is making every effort in exploring multimaodal shipping system so as to entend Guangzhou Port’s shipping covering capacity. In terms of highway, Guangzhou Municipal government is speeding up the construction of Doulong Bridge so as to open up the external passageway of Nabsha Port which will in turn quicken the pace of cargo transportation by land. As far as railway is concerned, Guangzhou Municipal government is planning to connect the railway in Nansha Port with the planned Guangzhu railway (from Guangzhou to Zhujiang) to make sure that later cargo train can get direct access to Nabsha Port proper. Then with the support of all these highway, expressway, railway and waterway, Nansha Port surely will possess the largest Railway Container Terminal and Dispatching Center in south China in the near future.

Meanwhile, Pan Zhujang Delta including Hunan province, Hubei province, Jiangxi province, Guangxi province, Yunnan province, Guizhou province, Sichuan province will be the next beneficial provinces of Guangzhou Port. Mr Yang Weijun, the productive business director of Guangzhou Port Group Co, Ltd introduced that these nine provinces in PanZhujiang Delta owned numerous inland waterways, however, compared to the Zhujiang River which has the most numerous branch rivers, these provinces’ waterways become inferior, Guangzhou Port, being a port along Zhujiang River, therefore has the uncomparable advantages than other ports

 At the same time, Guangzhou Port also cooperates with the Ministry of Railway in China in opening up the container railwayline from Huangpu to Kunming with tha aim of supplying multimodal shipping services to the clients in Yunnan to transfer their goods all over the world. Besides, Guangzhou Port also co-works with Guangzhou Railway Corperation in establishing the Huangpu-Xingang Railway Station in order to attract more inland clients.

Cai Jinlong (from Guangzhou Port) explained that the developing aim of Guangzhou Port in the following five years was to become the largest and the most comprehensive modern Container shipping key port in south China which was specialized in the shipping and transferring of bulk cargo such as energy, raw material, etc; to become the central modern logistic port which was geared to the world, connecting Hongkong, Macao with the mainland, covering south China, and servicing the Pan Zhujiang Delta; to try its best in promoting the economical development of Zhujiang Delta and Pan Zhujiang Delta.

It is said that during the 11^th Five-Year Plan, Guangzhou Municipal government has invested 20 billion RMB in perfecting the infrastructure of the port.That is, the waterway to the sea of Guangzhou Port will be deepened and broadened; the port’s two-way crossing ability for large-sized container and bulk cargo barges will be improved; the construction of specialized port will be quickened, the port will be developed to be more professional,to be more large-sized, to be more deep-watered;the contruction of surrounding expressway, highway and railway networks will also be prime work of the government so as to open up the high efficient-distributing passageway. 

Speaking of the future of Guangzhou Port,Mr Zhang Guangning, the mayor of Guangzhou city, said,“From now to 2050, this period is most critical to our country’s  construction of Well-off society and Four Modernisations,it is also the golden period for the port city’ economical development,so the developing propect of port city is rather promising. Guangzhou will catch the chance and make great efforts in advancing the port-related economical development,in this way to build up a cooperative(cooperation between airport economy and port economy),fast aspect of economical development in Guangzhou. Besides, Guangzhou will also try their best in supporting the construction of ‘Best of all Places’ of Guangdong province.”

     From Daily Economics,16^th,July,2008.