Billion-Ton-Port Series Report-Yantai port

¡¡¡¡By Sun Guangqi, Chen Xiaolong, Zhai Jing

¡¡¡¡Situated in the north of
¡¡¡¡ Shandong peninsula and
¡¡¡¡ mainly serving the inland areas of Shandong, Shanxi and Henan, Yantai saw its output break the billion-ton-port mark on Dec. 25, 2007, becoming the third billion-ton-port in Shandong province.
¡¡¡¡2007 saw Yantai port spend 2.4 billion Yuan on 21 new construction and expansion projects, including ten new berths (eight of 10,000 tonnage and above and one of 200,000 tonnage) to raise yearly production by 5.16 million tons. By plan, 16 billion Yuan will be invested in the erection of thirty two 50,000-ton berths during the 11th five-year period to further increase annual turnout by 150 million tons.

¡¡¡¡Integration of resources

¡¡¡¡With Yantai city aiming to become an international port city along the Bohai Bay Economic Belt in the new five-year period, all the formerly separate ports under its control have been merged into one single Yantai port with a total of 410 berths (37 of which are above 10,000 tonnage) scattered throughout its ten widely distributed basins (including Zhifuwan, West basin and Longkou etc). According to the "General Development Plan", ratified last year, Yantai port will achieve basic modernisation with an annual bulk output of 200 million tons and an annual container throughput of 2.5-3 million TEU by year 2010, and will further raise its bulk and container generation to 400 million tons and 10 million TEU respectively by the year 2020 when a complete transport system will be fully established for crude oil, LNG, ore stones, containers, construction materials, grains, Ro/Ro and passenger services etc.

¡¡¡¡Sources of investment

¡¡¡¡To gain financial support for continued expansion, Yantai port has resorted to both capital operation on the stock market and introduction of business investment from various parts of society, including joining hands with well-known carriers, port operators and big shippers who are even invited to construct their own operation facilities by themselves within the port limits. Examples include the Yihai phase-two grain & oil project, a cooperation project of Yantai Port (Group) Corporation that ,when completed, will up the port's output by 700,000 tons; Yantai Rising Dragon International Container Terminals Ltd, a joint venture launched with ICTSI, has also recently entered service.

¡¡¡¡Hardware development

¡¡¡¡Currently, a liquid chemical terminal has had hydro works finished in the West basin; preliminary work for a container terminal is going on without hindrance in Zhifuwan basin; Tonggang rail line claiming an investment of 157 million Yuan has started service in Longkou basin in addition to a 50,000-ton channel and a 100,000-ton general purpose terminal, which will be completed within this year; another 50,000-ton navigation channel and 50,000-ton general purpose terminal will soon be put under construction in Penglai basin.

¡¡¡¡Portside industry cultivation

¡¡¡¡To cultivate its portside industry, Yantai city has turned over the 26 square kilometres of land reserved in the West basin area to Yantai port for development. Combined with the more than 10 square kilometres in Longkou Development Zone, the 8-10 square kilometres in Penglai basin and the 6 square kilometres in Laizhou basin, the area will create a complete production belt in Northern Yantai for full integration with Yantai port.
¡¡¡¡Backed by the portside industry, Yantai city will be enabled to continue optimising its production structure, speeding the growth of its export-oriented economy. In this respect, 2006 alone saw completion of the phase-two project of Dongyue Auto Plant, the Hongfutai computer project, the Nanshan high-precision light alloy project and the Northern Benz heavy-duty auto project, forming initially an industry group centred on the production of automobiles, mobile phones, computers and even ships, as the ship manufacturer Dawee will also be welcomed in soon.

¡¡¡¡On-Shore transport

¡¡¡¡Yantai port is connected with the State railway network by Lanyan and Jiaoji, two double-line railways. Jiaoji railway has now been electrified, while opening of the Yanda railway ferry has turned Yantai from a mere terminal port into a regional port in Northern China. On the other hand, the port is brought into the expressway network of East China by expressways Tongsan and Jiqing. With two more highways to be built in the West and Longkou basins, as is set out in the Construction Plan 2007 of Shandong province, the on-shore transport conditions of Yantai port will be further improved.


¡¡¡¡Feature  challenges

¡¡¡¡1. Yantai port lacks large specialised deep-water berths. In Zhifunwan basin, for example, the loading/discharging of 100,000-ton and larger ships all necessitate the use of lighters, which costs both time and money, and makes a big source of difficulty for the visit of large ships.
¡¡¡¡2. Close neighbours Qingdao port and Tianjin port both have more specialised berths and stronger management and operation experiences, not to say the recent development of a bonded area at the Dongjiang basin, Tianjin port, which will inevitably lure more and more customers and cause a serious business drain for Yantai port.
¡¡¡¡3. The portside industry structure requires considerable improvement. Currently, light industry claims a major part of the portside operation group, which struggles to generate big volumes of transport demand, and their production is invariably short of upper stream support, as is evidenced by the production of plastics and electronic and communications equipment and textiles etc, which all lacks the effective support of the chemical industry.