DURING the first four months of the year, southeast Fujian province recorded a transshipment volume of 3.7 million tonnes from central and western provinces, a sharp growth increase of 83 per cent year on year.
Xinhua's report said this shows that Fujian's effort in expanding its port services to hinterland has taken effect and that the province is becoming an increasingly important gateway for the central and western regions.
Port of Xiamen registered over 70,000 TEU of international transshipments and 5,294 TEU of transshipments shipped via sea-rail intermodal to other provinces. Bulk cargo shipped via Xiamen to Jiangxi province increased 31 per cent to 2.46 million tonnes. Transshipments shipped via port of Fuzhou soared 274 per cent to 560,000 tonnes.
To attract more transhipment cargo, Fujian has launched a series of preferential policies, including reducing expressway toll charge for container trucks from other provinces and cancelling toll on second category highways. Transshipments from central and western provinces via Fujian are also exempted from port dues.
As of the end of April, Fujian seaports were operating 323 container shipping routes. One hundred and forty-seven were foreign trade lanes, 132 were domestic trade lanes and 44 were feeder lines. Port of Xiamen was operating 190 routes, port of Fuzhou 65, port of Meizhou Bay 68.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)