Fishing port looks to hook future in logistics
By Yang Jian |
June 18, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ZHOUSHAN, a traditional seafood port known as the "fish warehouse of the East China Sea," is looking beyond the deep blue for its economic future.
A year ago, the State Council, China's cabinet, designated the Zhoushan New Area as the nation's fourth state-level district. That raised its standing on the economic development ladder.
Towering cranes are beginning to appear where once fish farms flourished along the archipelago of 1,390 islands that comprise the city. Highways and tunnels are also under construction.
Local residents have been quick to seize new opportunities. Two weeks after approval for the Zhoushan New Area, Zheng Qian decided to invest 820 million yuan (US$128.8 million) to build the first modern logistics park in the city.
Zheng, 39, is the founder and general manger of Mingjie Logistics Co. He is planning to build the Lugang Logistics Park, covering 11.3 hectares, to pull together what has been a scattered cottage industry.
"The approval of the Zhoushan New Area firmed my determination," said Zheng.
He had been thinking about developing a logistics industrial park for three years but was held back by the huge investment required. He figures it will take at least 10 years for him to get a return on his investment.
Zheng worked as a seafood transporter after he was laid off from a state-owned factory in 1999. He started his business with only two trucks and a handful of other unemployed men. The business was slow to gain a foothold, and he nearly went bankrupt.
Making matters worse, a truckload of squid was stolen from him, causing 400,000 yuan in losses to his clients. He struggled to make good the losses, a gesture that won him respect from buyers and increased his business.
Mingjie Logistics today operates more than 100 trucks and employs 500 people. Annual revenue last year was more than 80 million yuan, far outpacing most other logistics companies on the islands.
"A large number of small operators and companies with low standards have hindered the development of the whole logistics industry," he said, describing his plans to help the industry consolidate and lift its game.
Logistic park
The city is home to about 450 logistics companies, but only five are really of any size and quality, said Pan Wanming, head of the logistics management department of the Zhoushan Road and Transport Management Committee.
"A new logistic park is the best way to standardize small companies and pave the way for the city to become an international logistics center," Pan said.
The first phase of the Lugang Logistics Park will be completed in July in the Putuo District of Zhoushan, with the whole project due to be finished in 2015, he said. Hopes are that the park will attract international logistics giants like FedEx and DHL.
Apart from the ground transportation, development is also reshaping the city's shipping industry.
On the 76-square-kilometer Jintang Island, the fourth largest of the Zhoushan islands, the city's first harbor for container ships is undergoing trial operations.
But only one of its six quay cranes was working on a recent day in Zhoushan. That's in contrast to the busy picture in Ningbo on the opposite side of Beilun Harbor, where 10 quay cranes and 32 gantry cranes were working to handle cargoes.
The Ningbo-Zhoushan Harbor area ranks the third in China, handling 5.11 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers in the first four months of this year. Zhoushan harbor alone accounted for mere 3 percent.
"Zhoushan mainly serves as a subsidiary port to support Beilun harbor," said Xu Yi, a manager at Zhoushan Yongzhou Container Terminals Ltd, operator of Jintang Harbor.
The company was jointly established in 2004 by authorities of Jintang and Ningbo on an investment of 6 billion yuan. About 10 percent came from Jintang.
New road link
Xu said the biggest problem has been the lack of a major highway link, still under construction, which makes Jintang Harbor rely only on water transport for cargoes.
Once the new road link is finished, volume at the port will triple, said Ren Qijun, deputy secretary of the Zhoushan City Port Association.
"At that time, the Zhoushan harbor might become a big competitor to the Shanghai port because it will be cheaper to transport cargos to Zhoushan than to Shanghai," Ren said.
With a limited number of staff, the Zhoushan Customs developed new remote monitoring and analysis system last year to inspect incoming cargoes more efficiently, said Zhou Yunliang, a department director at customs.
The newly developed system increased efficiency and has reduced demurrage charges for shipping company by 100 million yuan, said Zhou, 45, who has worked at customs for 24 years.
A year ago, the State Council, China's cabinet, designated the Zhoushan New Area as the nation's fourth state-level district. That raised its standing on the economic development ladder.
Towering cranes are beginning to appear where once fish farms flourished along the archipelago of 1,390 islands that comprise the city. Highways and tunnels are also under construction.
Local residents have been quick to seize new opportunities. Two weeks after approval for the Zhoushan New Area, Zheng Qian decided to invest 820 million yuan (US$128.8 million) to build the first modern logistics park in the city.
Zheng, 39, is the founder and general manger of Mingjie Logistics Co. He is planning to build the Lugang Logistics Park, covering 11.3 hectares, to pull together what has been a scattered cottage industry.
"The approval of the Zhoushan New Area firmed my determination," said Zheng.
He had been thinking about developing a logistics industrial park for three years but was held back by the huge investment required. He figures it will take at least 10 years for him to get a return on his investment.
Zheng worked as a seafood transporter after he was laid off from a state-owned factory in 1999. He started his business with only two trucks and a handful of other unemployed men. The business was slow to gain a foothold, and he nearly went bankrupt.
Making matters worse, a truckload of squid was stolen from him, causing 400,000 yuan in losses to his clients. He struggled to make good the losses, a gesture that won him respect from buyers and increased his business.
Mingjie Logistics today operates more than 100 trucks and employs 500 people. Annual revenue last year was more than 80 million yuan, far outpacing most other logistics companies on the islands.
"A large number of small operators and companies with low standards have hindered the development of the whole logistics industry," he said, describing his plans to help the industry consolidate and lift its game.
Logistic park
The city is home to about 450 logistics companies, but only five are really of any size and quality, said Pan Wanming, head of the logistics management department of the Zhoushan Road and Transport Management Committee.
"A new logistic park is the best way to standardize small companies and pave the way for the city to become an international logistics center," Pan said.
The first phase of the Lugang Logistics Park will be completed in July in the Putuo District of Zhoushan, with the whole project due to be finished in 2015, he said. Hopes are that the park will attract international logistics giants like FedEx and DHL.
Apart from the ground transportation, development is also reshaping the city's shipping industry.
On the 76-square-kilometer Jintang Island, the fourth largest of the Zhoushan islands, the city's first harbor for container ships is undergoing trial operations.
But only one of its six quay cranes was working on a recent day in Zhoushan. That's in contrast to the busy picture in Ningbo on the opposite side of Beilun Harbor, where 10 quay cranes and 32 gantry cranes were working to handle cargoes.
The Ningbo-Zhoushan Harbor area ranks the third in China, handling 5.11 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers in the first four months of this year. Zhoushan harbor alone accounted for mere 3 percent.
"Zhoushan mainly serves as a subsidiary port to support Beilun harbor," said Xu Yi, a manager at Zhoushan Yongzhou Container Terminals Ltd, operator of Jintang Harbor.
The company was jointly established in 2004 by authorities of Jintang and Ningbo on an investment of 6 billion yuan. About 10 percent came from Jintang.
New road link
Xu said the biggest problem has been the lack of a major highway link, still under construction, which makes Jintang Harbor rely only on water transport for cargoes.
Once the new road link is finished, volume at the port will triple, said Ren Qijun, deputy secretary of the Zhoushan City Port Association.
"At that time, the Zhoushan harbor might become a big competitor to the Shanghai port because it will be cheaper to transport cargos to Zhoushan than to Shanghai," Ren said.
With a limited number of staff, the Zhoushan Customs developed new remote monitoring and analysis system last year to inspect incoming cargoes more efficiently, said Zhou Yunliang, a department director at customs.
The newly developed system increased efficiency and has reduced demurrage charges for shipping company by 100 million yuan, said Zhou, 45, who has worked at customs for 24 years.
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