Shanghai ready for the 4th phase of Yangshan Port expansion

Shanghai is about to start the fourth phase of the expansion of the Yangshan Port, a project that will add more than 40 per cent to the handling capacity of the deep-water port.

The city government, awaiting a nod from the National Development and Reform Commission, plans to spend more than US$1.554 billion on the development of new deep-water berths, according to Wang Xuan, chief engineer with Shanghai Tongsheng Investment, in charge of building the Yangshan port, reported the South China Morning Post.

The expanded project, expected to be completed in 2015, will have an annual capacity of four million TEUs.

Shanghai, the world’s busiest container port, handled 29 million TEUs last year. At Yangshan, which became operational at the end of 2005, the throughput last year topped 10 million TEUs, exceeding its designed capacity of 9.3 million based on its three completed phases.

“The timing of expansion is in compliance with the real business growth,” Wang said.

“We were prepared for this new phase of construction.” Yangshan Port is a megaproject endorsed by the central government to reinforce Shanghai’s bid to become a global shipping centre. The Yangshan Islands are connected to the coast by a 32-kilometre bridge.

Benefiting from the affluent Yangtze River Delta, container throughput in Shanghai grew faster in the past decade as the region’s exports and imports boomed.

Despite leapfrogging Singapore to become the world’s No1 container port last year, Shanghai has yet to transform itself into an international shipping hub because of the small volume of international transhipments via the city.

“Shanghai Port has to fine-tune services and operations before it can really compete with foreign rivals to vie for transhipments,” said Shao Xiaoping, director of the Yangshan Customs House. “We still have a long way to go.”

The Customs and port authorities have been striving to increase efficiencies to attract more international shipping lines.The Customs house in Yangshan streamlined Customs procedures, cutting the time for Customs clearance to as little as two hours, from one day previously.

Shanghai is facing competition from neighbouring ports such as Ningbo at home and Busan in South Korea to consolidate its role as a key shipping centre in East Asia.

Transhipments account for only five per cent of the total container throughput in Shanghai.

Shao said Shanghai would not be universally recognised as an international shipping hub unless 40 per cent of the cargo was transported to other countries via the city.