Tianjin Port: World-class Nexus

Tianjin Port: World-class Nexus

By WU MEILING

The rise of the Port of Tianjin to China's world-class nexus is more than a case of being in the right place at the right time. True that the largest man-made harbor facility in China enjoys its geographic/economic advantage of sitting simultaneously on the eastern end of the Eurasian Continental Bridge and at the intersection of the Beijing-Tianjin City Belt and the Bohai Rim Economic Circle. But its determined managerial and technological advances have really been its "human capital" edge.

Among the multitude of records Tianjin seeks to reach and break: a 13 million standard container capacity by 2012.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, this small, shabby silted harbor has transformed itself into an international deep-water port, ranking first in northern China and fifth in the world. The efforts of generations of port staff have paid off, and the faith and support of the Communist Party of China and the national government show themselves to be well placed. The leadership of the CPC Tianjin municipal committee and municipal people's government are also to be credited with showing the world the port's road of scientific upgrading.

Statistics from 2008 alone paint a picture of the port's progress from its low in the last century. Tianjin Port's throughput exceeded 350 million tons, ranking it fifth worldwide. This secured its status as an important foreign trade port in northern China and a link between Northeast Asia and Central/Western Asia.