[photopress:logistics_Yantai_Port.jpg,full,alignright]A ship carrying 5,668 containers started its voyage from Yantai toward the Middle East recently, inaugurating a new line jointly operated by Yantai Port Group and Container Lines.
Eight ships of the same capacity will run on the line, taking 12 days to reach Malaysia, 19 days to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 23 days to India.
Zhou Bo, president of Yantai Port Group, said the line would boost the port’s shipping business and also foreign trade for the entire Shandong peninsula.
Yantai Port also serves international shipping to the US West Coast through a line begun in November 2006 by China Ocean Shipping(Cosco).
Zhou Bo said, ‘With the two main lines, Yantai Port’s container business will be booming.’
Statistics from Yantai Customs show the import-export volume of the city in 2007 increased by 58.8% to $23.94 billion, accounting for 19.5% of Shandong’s total volume.
The port has benefited since 2005 from the development of the Shandong peninsula’s manufacturing base and coastal industrial belt.
In 2007, Yantai Port formed a joint venture with International Container Terminal Services Inc, a Manila-based port operator. The establishment of Yantai Rising Dragon International Container Terminals expanded the market in Southeast Asia.
The designed annual throughput of Yantai Port is 1.51 million TEUs, enabled by a 2,139m terminal shoreline and 650,000 sq m container yard.
A new container terminal under construction will stretch across one million sq m and have four berths with a shoreline of 1,200m that will add another 1.2 million TEUs in capacity. It will be able to berth ships with a capacity of 10,000 TEUs
Zhou Bo said, ‘This year, Yantai Port’s throughput of containers is expected to reach 1.7 million TEUs with a year-on-year increase of 36 percent. By 2010, the figure will be three million.’
Source: Cargo News Asia