River-city Wuhan in Central China recently worked out a plan according to which the city will spend US$8.33 billion on port development in the 12th National Five-year Plan period from 2011 to 2015.
Over the long term Wuhan plans to invest US$13.53 billion on port development and eventually raise its container capacity to 150 million tonnes in terms of tonnage or 2.6 million TEU respectively.
Wuhan now has 27 port areas and 502 berths. It is able to accommodate ships with capacity up to 70 million tonnes and can handle 92 million tonnes of cargo per year. A network of water, rail and road intermodal service has been formed at the port.
Further, Wuhan plans to develop “ one centre, three hubs, six bases “, which refers to mid-Yangtze shipping centre, Yangtze river shipping hub, multi-modal transportation hub, port industry hub and bases for container shipping, shipbuilding, multimodal transportation, shipping technology and education, logistics and trade, and shipping information.
Now in Wuhan, there are 87 shipping companies, 47 shipbuilding companies, 15 shipping institutes and nine colleges that train over 20,000 professionals for the industry every year.
[mappress]
Dredging Today Staff, November 30, 2011