Harboring no doubts

Port Hamburg? Or Rotterdam? No, it's Tianjin's new port area.

If passengers take a helicopter flying over the port - only 100 km southeast of Beijing, what will attract them may be the warehouses, container terminals and the bustling logistics zone. It resembles Germany's Hamburg port, and also similar to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

In this case, though, it's the Dongjiang Bonded Harbor Area, a 10-square-kilometer bonded port located in the Bohai-rim, northeast of Tianjin municipality.

It will be China's largest free trade center when it's completed by 2010 and will provide favorable tax and foreign exchange policies, comprehensive international shipping, distribution, purchasing, transit trade and export processing services.

But more notable, the Dongjiang Bonded Port Area is regarded by China's top policymakers as the spearhead for the work to fuel the economic development of the nation's third regional economy facilitator, Tianjin Binhai New Area, and modeled after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Pudong New District in Shanghai.

"Dongjiang port is a new free trade center for boosting the country's further growth, and it's also seen as a shining ray of Tianjin's hope," says Yu Rumin, chairman of Tianjin Port (Group) Co Ltd, which is in charge of the Dongjiang construction project.

But building such a remarkable project isn't easy, Yu says. "It will feature six 'mosts' nationwide: the largest area, best conditions, most preferential policies, highest efficiency, most convenient customs clearance and most relaxed environment," the chairmen explains.

"We are sparing no effort with the infrastructure works and only 15-months after the central government approved the project, we finished the first phase last December, which covers a 4 sq km area. The first part of the project has already been in commercial operation for eight months," Yu tells China Business Weekly.

The port area has handled 162,000 standard containers in the last eight months and plans to increase its container handling capacity to 1.1 million standard containers by the end of this year.

Yu says he is pleased to see that growing number of world's leading trans-shipping, distributing, purchasing, transit trading and logistical companies doing business in Dongjiang, such as Maple tree Logistics, Sweden's Mediterranean Shipping Company and Korean Hanjin Shipping.

"Dongjiang provides a more integrated chain of logistical services compared to our experiences in other port areas before," says Meng Qingjiang, chairman of Tianjin Mayget Industry & Development Co Ltd, a large logistics business.

"It is the golden starting point for Tianjin to grow as an international shipping center," says Huang Xingguo, mayor of Tianjin. "By 2012, lead by Dongjiang, Tianjin's position as an international harbor city will be strengthened and its position as the economic gateway of North China will be established," Huang adds.

"We are engaging in providing higher quality and more cost-effective services to exporters and importers in Dongjiang," Yu notes. He says they are already providing faster logistic services for their customers. For example, container trans-shipping service now takes 10 minutes instead of 30 as it did in the past.

"Better services can help us win customers' hearts - and then, the market," says Yu.

The Dongjiang Bonded Harbor Area is the second of its kind in China. But compared with the Shanghai-based Yangshan Bonded Harbor Area that opened in late 2005, Dongjiang is aiming higher.

Dongjiang is expected to turnover 450 million tons of goods and 15 million standard containers within five years.

"And it will help carry out and test operational modes for an international hub port, free port and free trade area," Liu Binglian, professor of Modern Logistics Researching Institute of Tianjin Nankai University, says.

"The free trade area will mean at least a 20 percent growth in the region's gross domestic product," the professor explains.

He takes the Yangshan Bonded Harbor Area as an example. Yangshan port has already helped Shanghai grow into an international shipping hub and given a boost to businesses in the Yangtze River Delta. As such, Dongjiang is facing huge pressure and challenges right now, Liu says.

Yu adds. "It should not only be a starting point, but should also keep on increasing its influence as a driving force for the Binhai New Area's further development.

(China Daily 09/01/2008 page10)