Da Chan underway in Port of Shenzhen

Da Chan underway in Port of Shenzhen The fourth container terminal in the Port of Shenzhen officially opened for business this week, with the start of operations at the first phase of Da Chan Bay's Terminal One.
   The opening of Da Chan, which sits northwest of Shenzhen city and just south of factory-heavy Dongguan, stretches the geographical reach of the Port of Shenzhen even further, and could add as many as 2 million to 3 million TEUs to Shenzhen's throughput in 2008.
   'We believe we can reach 3.5 million to 4 million,' Jason Sheng, commercial manager for the terminal's first phase, told American Shipper in an interview in fall. 'We hope we can provide more options and capacity for this growing region. We're closer to the manufacturing base and we're closer to the barge network from the Western PRD.'
   The new terminal opened its first two berths this week and plans to open three more in 2008, providing more capacity to the increasingly competitive Pearl River Delta container handling market. The terminal is owned by a joint venture between Hong Kong-based terminal operator Modern Terminals and an investment agency of the Shenzhen government.
   The phase two expansion of Da Chan Bay involves a four-berth facility with capacity of 3.2 million TEUs. The first two berths are set to be operational by the end of 2009, with the remaining two operational the following year.
   In all, Da Chan is planned to have four phases, with 20 berths and capacity for 10 million TEUs.