Inland Shipping Poised For Acceleration In China
In a Shanghai symposium on January 11, 2007, Li Shenglin - communications minister in China, highlighted the growing importance of inland shipping in China’s cargo transportation.
A senior official at the symposium also revealed Chinese Communications Ministry’s plans to promote container transport on inland rivers of China. Insiders feel that there is currently a heavy dependence of inland shipping on natural waterways that limits development of cargo transportation.
For developing container transport on Chinese inland rivers, the Ministry of Communications has identified three priorities.
Addressing the symposium, the Minister proclaimed that China would speed up the construction of container transport network down Yangtze River, with Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongging being its main centers. And, an additional network would also be set up down Pearl River for Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou.
The second priority would be the introduction of fresh port equipment & advanced container ships to raise the industry’s overall quality standards.
The third priority was the development of information technologies & information systems of containerized transport so that management could be specialized, standardized and computerized.
Social funds and foreign capital are welcomed in these projects, added the minister. Chinese central government plans to put in 15 billion Yuan (US$ 1.9 billion) for the inland waterway projects during 2006 & 2010. Local governments are also likely to make significant contributions in this.
The Yangtze River, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and Pearl River will remain on top of the list of priorities. A significant increase is also expected in the length of high-grade channels capable of navigating 1,000-ton vessels.
Inland port development is also planned for Chongging Municipality, Hubei Province’s Wuhan, Hunan Province’s Changsha and Nanchang of Jiangxi Province. Berths will also be built in all the ports for containers, coal, ore, food, and petroleum as per the demands.
The minister informed the China Daily, that investments of 23 billion Yuan (US$ 2.9 billion) via multiple sources were made in the inland shipping industry last year.
But he revealed that foreign investors were yet to be involved in these projects, with more interest in harbors & container transport for predictable returns.
In 2006 expenditure on the Yangzte River project was 16 billion Yuan (US$ 2.1 billion). China is emulating developed countries for boosting sustainable development in and along the Yangzte River. Among them is the Netherlands with advanced technologies and enough experience in inland shipping.
China would begin by speeding up the establishment of a comprehensive network of container transport on inland rivers for compatibility with the international and internal multi-modal transport and commodities circulation systems.