Quanzhou's Shihu container dock.	A container wharf.	Fuzhou's Qingzhou container wharf.

FUJIAN Province is on the western banks of the Taiwan Straits in southeastern China, and a pivotal point of domestic and international shipping routes. Deep-water harbors line its 3,324-km coastline, among which Shacheng Bay, Sandu’ao, Luoyuan Bay, Xinghua Bay, Meizhou Bay, Xiamen Bay and Dongshan Bay have 100,000-ton berth capacities. Fujian plans to exploit 480 kilometers of its coastline for shipping, including 246 kilometers for deep-water harbors.

Sea Route Economy

Water transportation has been a mainstay of Fujian’s economy, as well as a crucial medium of exchange between China and the world, for centuries. Quanzhou City, starting point of the Marine Silk Road, established Fujian’s reputation as “grand port of the East” as far back as the Song Dynasty (960-1279). These days, Quanzhou Harbor handles mostly domestic and near sea trade containers and general cargo, and is the largest of its kind in the province.

Harbor construction in Fujian has made rapid progress in recent years, during which a slew of large appropriated docks has been built and commenced operations. Fuzhou City is expanding its ports from the Minjiang River to the ocean, becoming one of China’s major seaports. Xiamen City, a hub port in the coastal areas of southeastern China as well as one of the national top eight container terminals, has also accelerated construction of its container terminals. There are also large oil tanker berths on the southern shore of Meizhou Bay.

Fujian ports have expanded in proportion to the volume of the freight they handle. In 2005 it reached a total 196 million tons, including 4.92 million standard containers. Fuzhou came12th in the national tonnage ranking (74 million tons); Xiamen stood seventh in the national container ranking (3.34 million standard containers); and Quanzhou was fourth in the domestic trade container ranking (600,000 containers).

Higher figures still were reported in 2006, when local seaports handled 237 million tons of freight, including 5.88 million standard containers. Among them Xiamen handled four million and Fuzhou one million containers.

In 2006, Fujian accomplished an investment of RMB 5.47 billion in harbor construction. By the end of the year, it had 402 sea cargo berths, 80 of which handle tonnage above 10,000, plus 25 container terminals. Their total throughput capacity hit 146 million tons, while their container handling capacity achieved an impressive 5.98 million.

A Link with Taiwan

Shipping business between Fujian and Taiwan harbors has been ongoing for the past decade. On April 19, 1997 a direct route for container liners started trial operation between Fuzhou, Xiamen and Kaohsiung ports. Since then, one vessel from each of ten shipping companies on both sides of the Straits has sailed this sea route. A total 4.44 million standard containers have been transferred in 16,952 sailings .

In 1998, these three cities went on to open a container liner route across the Taiwan Straits that entailed berthing at a third port. Since then, five container liners from four Fujian shipping carriers and two vessels from two Taiwan companies have sailed the route. Between 2003 and 2005, Fujian carriers of 301,652 containers made 1,222 voyages.

Direct sea passenger transport commenced between Fujian and Taiwan on January 2, 2001. It has three regular service lines -- Mawei to Matsu, Shijing (in Quanzhou) to Chinmen and Xiamen to Chinmen. A further two tramp liner services -- Zhangzhou/Quanzhou/Meizhou Island (in Putian) to Chinmen and Quanzhou to Penghu are also in operation. By the end of 2006, 16 ships from both sides of the Taiwan Straits had completed 17,146 voyages transporting 1.9 million passengers.

Direct cargo shipping was formally launched between Fujian and Taiwan on August 27, 2001, and 10 tramp lines have opened. By the end of 2006, both regions had sent 24 vessels on 3,876 voyages, in which 4.64 million tons of goods were freighted.

Further Inroads to Sea and Land

As Fujian’s ports constitute the bedrock of its economy, port construction is high on the provincial government’s 11th Five-Year Plan agenda. It is committed to building a three-dimensional transportation network that integrates large ports, expressways, railways, trunk highways and airports connecting to other parts of China and the world.

The provincial government adopted a blueprint for unifying the administration of Xiamen’s ports on November 25, 2005. The resultant Xiamen Port Authority, inaugurated in 2006, marked the start of the province’s drive to galvanize economic growth through port development.

The scale advantage of Fujian harbors gives a strong impetus to regional economic growth. During the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the province expects to expand its economic hinterland into central and western China via passages starting from Fuzhou, Xiamen, Meizhou Bay and Ningde ports. The province is to invest RMB29.7 billion in construction of 156 deepwater berths and 17 sea routes, so as to expand its total cargo throughput capacity to over 300 million tons, including 12 million containers, by the end of 2010.

Were both sides of the Taiwan Straits to pool their resources, cooperate, and supplement each other, the harbor advantages of the region could be consolidated. This would effectively provide an efficient international trade maritime service for the entire Asia-Pacific area.