Nansha port plans seven new international routes

Nansha port will open seven new international ocean routes this year, linking the Guangdong provincial capital to more global destinations.

One of the major deep water ports in the southern Chinese region, Nansha port has 59 worldwide routes, including 10 to Europe, five to America, 21 to Southeast Asia and 19 to Africa.

"The new international ocean routes will connect Guangzhou with the cities located in the countries and regions along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road," Song Xiaoming, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Port Co Ltd, said.

The new routes will include destinations in Vietnam, the Philippines and other cities in the Middle East, Song pointed out without giving specific details. Major international shipping companies are also opening routes to Nansha.

"The throughput of Nansha port reached more than 11 million twenty-foot (6 meters) equivalent units in 2014, but the number is expected to reached more than 12 million TEUs in 2015. By 2017, that figure could be more than 15 million TEUs," Song said.

The annual throughput of Yantian port in Shenzhen special economic zone is more than 24 million TEUs, while Hong Kong’s deals with 22 million TEUs. "Therefore, Nansha port has great potential," Song said.

The port plans to further improve efficiency and reduce production costs, which are already low. The establishment of the Guangzhou Nansha Free Trade Zone in April has also increased construction at Nansha port.

It will eventually have 16 deep water piers that can handle at least 150,000-ton vessels when the third phase is completed by the end of the year. The port now has 12 such piers.

A rail link connecting Nansha port to the Guangzhou-Zhuhai high speed line is planned, Construction is expected to start within a year.