The shipping centre will not only involve shipping resources but also human resources, capital, technology and informationTo promote its shipping, logistics and tourism industries, Xiamen, a special economic zone in East China’s Fujian province, is laying the groundwork for a global shipping hub by the year 2020.
According to China Daily, the establishment of the Southeast China International Shipping Centre was initially proposed by the Fujian provincial government in 2010. The goal for the centre is to gather important shipping resources and create a comprehensive shipping services system at the Port of Xiamen.
As Xiamen celebrated the 30th anniversary of its establishment as a special economic zone last year, the State Council released a report including guidelines for setting up an international shipping centre in Xiamen. The Central Government also gave substantial support for the city’s industrial transformation.
As planned, the centre’s core framework and services will be in place by 2020. By then, the shipping centre will be able to deal with a variety of businesses such as international transit, purchase, allocation and distribution, ship leasing, customs clearance and offshore outsourcing.
Given the city’s location on the western side of the Taiwan Straits, the shipping centre will also strengthen its ties with port cities in Taiwan such as Kaohsiung, Taichung and Keelong, said Mr. Cai Liangya, Director of the Xiamen Port Authority.
“The shipping hub will become the country’s fourth international shipping centre,” he added. “Together with Shanghai, Tianjin and Dalian, Xiamen will help enhance the country’s shipping intelligence network,” he noted.
Mr. Sun Chunlan, Party Chief of Fujian province, said building the shipping centre is about more than just creating a world-class harbour.
“The project concerns regional development. The shipping centre will not only involve shipping resources but also human resources, capital, technology and information,” Mr. Sun stated.
“In addition to the tertiary sector of the economy, secondary industry will also be spurred by the creation of the shipping hub,” he observed. Preferential policies have been introduced to advance the process of building the international shipping centre.
According to the Xiamen Port Authority, inbound imported cargo will be free of duties. Domestic cargo entering the zone will be designated as exports and relevant taxes will be refunded.
Companies that undertake the task of onloading and offloading a vast amount of goods from other provinces and regions will be rewarded.
The local Government officials believe tax refund policies will attract more companies to ship goods in Xiamen and help the city further its goal of becoming an international shipping centre.
Marking a significant step toward developing Xiamen into an international shipping centre, the Xiamen Shipping Exchange officially became operational in June.
It has five major functions. In addition to serving as a platform for buying, selling and leasing ships, the exchange will act as a clearing house for shipping information and a provider of other services such as cargo trading, personnel training and trading agency services.
In terms of cargo transactions, the exchange has the advantage of being a specialized market that can handle high-end shipping and logistics companies, thereby allowing an advanced industrial chain of shipping services to develop.
At a cost of 3.1 billion yuan ($491 million), the 100,000-ton luxury cruise liner is an important component of the Southeast China International Shipping Centre project, which is expected to draw a total of 16.73 billion yuan. Local leaders say that the cruise liner will be an essential tool for driving the development of the city’s tourism industry.
All infrastructure facilities involved in the project are located in Xiamen’s Haicang district. The district government recently announced that the construction work for the headquarters of the Southeast China International Shipping Centre will begin by the end of this year. The building is expected to be fully operational before 2016.
On completion, the headquarters will become the Port of Xiamen’s inspection document processing centre and command the centre as well as a site to house a cluster of shipping enterprises, according to the district government.
The efforts to build Xiamen into an international shipping centre are expected to achieve initial results by 2015, and by that time, the cargo throughput of Xiamen port will reach 200 million tons and the container throughput will hit 10 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEU.
In the first four months of this year, Xiamen recorded a container throughput of 2.06 million TEU, up 11.82 per cent year-on-year and a throughput tonnage of 52.36 million tons, up 5.86 per cent.
Last year, Xiamen handled 6.47 million TEU, ranking seventh among Chinese ports and 18th in the world.
The city currently has 81 berths that can handle vessels of all sizes, including 16 deep-water berths.
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