Rising tide for port industries
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Qingdao mountaineers set out to climb Laoshan mountain on April 19. Ju Chuanjiang |
Industrial output from companies in the vicinity of Qingdao Port soared more than four-fold last year to become the driving force of the city's economic development.
According to official statistics from the local customs office, the products from Qingdao Free Trade Zone (FTZ) totaled 1.35 million tons in 2007, an increase of 473 percent, valued at $2.806 billion, 332 percent more than 2006.
Total industrial output in the Qingdao Economic Development Zone in the first quarter of this year was valued at 35.38 billion yuan, an increase of 30.07 percent.
The Qingdao municipal government has been making full use of the city's advantage as an important port in east China to encourage development of port-vicinity industries, said officials from the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.
The city now has several industrial parks, including the economic development zone, the FTZ, an export processing zone and harbor economic development zone.
The Qingdao Bonded Logistics Park has attracted 120 noted enterprises from home and abroad, including Maersk, Sinotrans and Posco, since it began operation in January 2006.
International container lines that anchored for the first time early this year signaled integration of the FTZ and port operations, officials said.
The park plans to further develop the FTZ to attract global logistics companies and enterprises, said Wang Huaiyue, director of the FTZ management committee.
"We will build our FTZ to be first class in the next three years."
The FTZ has already formed its own industrial clusters to include modern logistics, hi-tech industries, electronics manufacturing and food processing.
Hi-tech projects account for 60 percent of investment at the FTZ. The GDP of the park has increased at an annual rate of 26 percent since 2000.
The Harbor Economic Development Zone specializes in the processing industry for exports. There are currently 250 operations in the zone.
The park plans to have a total output valued at 40 billion yuan in the next five years through further development of industries in household electronic appliances, non-ferrous metals, auto parts, environmental protection equipment and new materials.
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A 76-year-old woman draws a crowd on Sports Street as she demonstrates the martial art tai ji. Qingdao's seaside street is also a site for body building, as well as table tennis, shuttlecock games, rope skipping and other outdoor activities. Zhao Ruixue |
The processing zone has become another key area for foreign investment. By the end of March this year, it was home to 42 projects that required $515 million in investment by 26 enterprises.
China Petrochemical Corp - also known as Sinopec - invested 10 billion yuan in a 10 million-ton refinery near Qingdao Port that will begin operation in May.
The city now has 29 enterprises engaged in shipbuilding and repair, while the Haixi Bay Ship Building and Repair Base is under construction. It will become one of the city's pillar facilities when finished.
Other enterprises and research institutes related to shipbuilding and ship repair, such as makers of machinery and marine diesel engines, are scheduled to settle in the park in the near future.
Producing containers themselves is also an important part of the port-vicinity industry. China International Marine Containers (Group) Co Ltd, the biggest container manufacturer in the world, has a key production base in Qingdao.
The Qingdao CIMC Container Manufacture Co Ltd has developed into the biggest dry cargo container manufacturer in east China. Its annual total production accounts for 65 percent of the Shandong's total with yearly revenues surpassing $200 million.
Auto and machinery enterprises, like SAIC-GM and Beijing Auto Fukuda, have also built facilities in parks near the Qingdao Port.
(China Daily 04/23/2008 page24)
