Shanghai on schedule to open Yangshan terminal in November

Shanghai on schedule to open Yangshan terminal in November    The port of Shanghai is on schedule to open the first phase of its giant Yangshan deepwater port in November, as fast-growing container volumes continue to put pressure on its existing container terminals.
   Huang Xin, vice president of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co. Ltd., the operator of China’s largest port, said the development of the first phase of Yangshan, located 30 kilometers away from downtown Shanghai, will cost RMB700 million to RMB800 million ($85 million to $97 million) for the port facilities and another RMB500 million ($61 million) for construction of a bridge to Yangshan Island. Construction began in 2002.
   The first five container berths under the project's first phase will provide 2.2 million TEUs in annual capacity, Huang added. Shanghai International Port (Group) is financing the first phase of Yangshan on its own, but Huang said the company would consider inviting outside operators to develop the project's second phase. The entire project will add as much as 25 million TEUs in annual capacity by 2020, making Yangshan one of the world’s largest greenfield container terminal projects.
   “Yangshan is at the top of the projects of the municipality of Shanghai,” Huang said. As China’s largest port construction project since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Yangshan has also attracted interest from shipping lines and terminals operators, who want to operate terminals at the greenfield facility.
   “Shanghai has been increasing (its yearly throughput) by 3 million TEUs a year,” Huang noted. “All the terminals are fully utilized.”
   The port of Shanghai hopes to attract very large containerships to Yangshan, thanks to its deep draft of more than 15 meters (49 feet), as compared to 11.5 meters (38 feet) as the current facilities. The port of Shanghai handled 14.6 million TEUs in 2004, 29 percent or 3 million TEUs more than in 2003.