Cichen Shen of Lloyds list is reporting that China is proposing a multi-billion dollar port project, including up to 50m teu of container capacity. The project is envisaged as a strategic move to strengthen trade in Southern China and drive integration through one of the country’s largest economic powerhouses. She writes:
BEIJING is considering a proposal to construct a massive integrated super port across islands south of Hong Kong, consolidating regional port resources to challenge Singapore’s shipping hub status.
The infrastructure project, potentially costing over $20bn, is also envisaged as a strategic facility to strengthen trade and economic growth in the country’s south and drive integration of the Greater Bay Area, known as the GBA — a mega-region encompassing nine cities in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
The proposer, Liang Jianwei, a special researcher at the Counsellor’s Office of the Guangdong Provincial Government, said the super port could accommodate the world’s largest vessels including 22,000 teu containerships, very large crude carriers and 400,000 dwt valemax ore carriers.
Liang, former head of the Guangdong Maritime Safety Authority, was speaking at a GBA development forum during Hong Kong Maritime Week.
The container section of the new port is envisioned to have an annual capacity of 45-50m teu, requiring around Yuan120bn ($16bn) investment, he revealed. […]
But Liang argues existing port areas in Hong Kong and western Shenzhen can be retired to free up land for higher-value use after the new port is built, although co-ordinating different operators’ interests could be challenging.
Other ports in the region can take on supporting roles based on individual strengths under the overall port cluster.
“From the perspective of serving national development strategies, building this new port will be very meaningful,” he concluded.
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