[photopress:logistics_containsers_one_million.jpg,full,alignright]Ports in China this year have so far handled over 100 million TEUs — containers — which makes China a major world player.
A ceremony was held in Tianjin Port to mark the event. Xu Zuyuan, vice-minister of communications, said, ‘China’s container transportation has reached world levels both in handling efficiency and building networks, greatly contributing to the prosperous shipping industries of Northeast Asia and the world,
For every two containers traveling along shipping lines in the Pacific, one is from China. China also manufactures 90% of the world’s containers.
(Bit of personal bias here. Members of my family run a storage business called Lock, Stock built on empty containers used as storage lockers. In their expert opinion those built in China are a superior article.)
Xu Zuyuan said, ‘The contribution of the container industry to the global economy are no less than those of the Internet in modern times.’
The first overseas container reached China in September 1973 at Tianjin Port, which later set up the country’s first container berth in 1980.
Song Dexing, director of the ministry’s water transport department, said water transportation accounts for more than 90% of foreign trade cargo delivery said that now it needs to move on.
He said, ‘The container industry must move away from traditional transportation and toward comprehensive logistics and service industries. Instead of just transportation it needs to be moving towards a comprehensive logistics and service industry.”
Source: People’s Daily Online