Copyright 2024 - Ningbo Life / Ningbo Expat

Sea area management provided new lands for construction

Recently, the last batch of 7500 acres of the sea area used for construction purpose, including the Hangzhou Bay New Town, Meishan Industry Cluster Zone and Hongsheng Seawall in Fenghua County, has been approved by the provincial government. So far, the sea area management sector provided about 18,000 acres of sea area for construction purpose, among which over 15,000 acres are used as planned construction land and about 3000 acres are registered for public welfare.

The sea area management has become an important means of solving the problem of shortage of construction space and the approval of land for construction purpose. It is said that as the approval right for reclamation belongs to the national and provincial governments, and the management procedures are complex and application requirements are demanding, it is difficult to guarantee the processing time. Therefore, since the new policy for reclamation was issued at the beginning of 2010, Ningbo Ocean and Fishery Bureau has made efforts to improve working efficiency and to ensure the examination quality so that all the projects reported can get timely approval.

In the meanwhile, Ningbo obtained recognition and support from the State Oceanic Administration for its innovative management system and efforts in promoting the construction of the sea area express passage and market mechanism. So far, Ningbo has been listed among the pilot zones for handling the construction project management by direct use of sea area use procedure, and the related documents for the pilot zone is being discussed by the municipal government. Xiangshan County has been listed among the national pilot zones for innovative oceanic management by the State Oceanic Administration and Xiangshan Oceanic Property Rights Exchange Center has been set up.

Statistics show that in 2011, the national planned reclamation area for Ningbo reached 8250 acres, an increase of 900 acres over the previous year. At the end of 2011, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Oceanic Administration approved another 7500 acres as additional area for construction purpose.

It is learned that the year 2012 will be an important year for Ningbo to accelerate the development of marine economy and build the core demonstration zone. Ningbo Ocean and Fishery Bureau has set up its yearly sea area management goal as serving the construction of key sea block and key projects by realizing an area of over 1000 hectares for construction purpose.

Urban environment observation and research station settled in Beilun

It is learned from the Development and Reform Bureau of Beilun District that the project of Ningbo urban environment observation and research station by Chinese Academy of Sciences has been launched recently. The station will be settled to the south of the Siba Road of the coastal new town and to the northeast of the Chunxiao Lake with a total area of 40,000 square meters and a construction area of 20,000 square meters. With a total investment of about 170 million yuan, the project is expected to start its official operation in 2014.
As is known, as a research institute specialized in the comprehensive study of urban environment, the urban environment Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences was founded in Xiamen on July 4, 2006. The institute intended to form a "two-station" structure by launching two urban environment centers in two cities selected from the Yangtze River Delta city group and Zhujiang River Delta city group respectively. The station in Ningbo is just one of these two centers. Based in Ningbo and radiating to the Yangtze River Delta, the observation and research station will carry out researches and explorations in long-term urban environment observation and research, urban eco-environment and health, urban environment treatment and restoration technology, environmental engineering and recycling economy, urban planning and environmental policy research and development, and technology transfer, conversion and scale industrialization

French Counselor Paid a Visit to Beilun, Ningbo

Pascal Gondran, investment counselor of French Embassy and rep of AFII (Invest in France Agency), and his party visited Beilun on January 10. The Bureau of Investment and Cooperation of Beilun introduced the economic situation in both Ningbo and Beilun, such as the investment environment, supporting industries, infrastructure facilities and taxation policy of Beilun. Interactions were conducted by both parties for further cooperation.

Mr. Gondran and his party also visited Beilun Industrial Park and Yongfa Group. He has followed closely the Yongfa’s acquisition in Europe and is willing to fully support its development in Europe.

AFII (Invest in France Agency) and Beilun Government have been keeping good terms with each other. Both are looking forward to further exchange and cooperation between businesses to achieve mutual benefit and a win-win result.

Ningbo Steps up to Develop First-Class International Port

In 2011, the foreign trade via Ningbo Port for the first time exceeded 200 billion USD. According to the latest statistics from the Ningbo Customs, the import and export output reached $ 200.44 billion, up 24.2% over the previous year, making Ningbo a member of the “200 billion USD club" of I/E trade.

In terms of the trade volume, Ningbo Port is the seventh largest in China, only next to the ports of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Nanjing, Qingdao and Huangpu.

Analysts believe this is an important milestone for Ningbo to pace up in building a first-class international port. It also marks the transition for Ningbo from a transportation port to a trade logistics port.

"200 billion USD of foreign trade has made great contribution to the fast yet steady economic growth of Ningbo last year", said Xu Gaochun, deputy secretary-general with Ningbo Municipal Government and director with the Port and Anti-smuggling Office of Ningbo.

Moving towards a first-class international port  

Foreign trade via port is an important indicator of a city's competitiveness. Trade goes hand in hand with logistics. The development of trade promotes the growth of cargo throughput and container transport as well as port services, making tremendous revenue.

From 2007 to 2011, import and export output rose from $ 111.8 billion to $ 200.44 billion. Apart from the negative growth in 2009 which was due to the financial crisis, the growth in rest of the years was over $ 20 billion, with $ 39.1 billion last year.

Owing to the rapid growth of foreign trade, Ningbo has consolidated its role as a large port. Last year, Ningbo Port yielded 433 million tons' cargo throughput, with 230 million tons' foreign trade cargo throughput, up by 13.26% than the previous year. Its container throughput reached 14.512 million TEU, up by 11.6, ranking among the best in the world.

Port is playing a more important role in national economy. In 2011, Ningbo Customs received 75.692 billion yuan, up by 33.22%, reaching a historical high.

Yao Chengguang, chief with Ningbo Customs said, $ 200.44 billion is the statistics of the local areas by Ningbo Customs. In fact, the cargoes outgoing and coming in via the Port of Ningbo that are declared in customs elsewhere in China is far more than that. Taking Yiwu as an example, there are thousands of container lorry going between the city and Ningbo. These goods are declared in their local customs rather than in Ningbo.

Give full play to the hinterland

At the beginning of last year, while Ningbo is speeding up to build a first-class international port, the slogan "fine port environment, high working efficiency, fast customs clearance, low overall costs and a leading role among similar ports in the country" is listed in the targets of the twelfth five year plan.

"In the final analysis, the competitiveness of a port depends on the soft environment, which means fast and convenient customs clearance and fine port resources like coastline and terminals", said Chen Guorong, vice president with Ningbo Port Co.Ltd.

As many innovative services and reforms like joint transport of container highway, sea and railway through transport, assorted clearance and express release of exports are launched, shipping tycoons worldwide are opening routes in Ningbo. At the end of last year, 236 container lines have been opened, including 126 ocean-going main lines and 58 off-shore lines. There are 1268 container liner services each month in all.

Off-site companies have a say on the overall environment of the port. In 2011, foreign trade of these companies through Ningbo Port reached $ 122.76 billion, up by 27.9%, accounting for 61.2% of the total foreign trade that time, up 1.7 point than the end of last year.

The indirect hinterland of Ningbo Port has expanded to the rest of Zhejiang Province, Anhui Province, Jiangxi Province, Hubei Province, Hunan Province, Zhejiang-Jiangxi railway, the middle and upper reaches of Yangtz River as well as southwest and northwest areas.

Foreign trade via port depends on the extent of the hinterland. In some sense, it is natural that Ningbo Port has yielded over $ 200 billion last year.

Striving for an international port

After surpassing the threshold of $ 200 billion, how can Ningbo's foreign trade enjoy a better development?

Yejian, deputy chief with Ningbo Customs, said that Ningbo should work hard in bringing more imports so as to strive a balance between import and export. For example, the import of bulk cargo like grain and crude oil as well as medicine, medical appliance, machinery and equipment should be increased.

Last year, Ningbo Port yielded import of $ 76.69 billion, up by 26% and export of $ 123.75 billion, up by 23.1%. "It is a very good beginning that the growth of import is faster than export. But it is not enough", said Xu Gaochun. It is a vital way to develop import trade vigorously if Ningbo is to build a first-class international port. Tianjin and Huangpu's foreign trade has been soaring since its auto import is allowed.

At the same time, Ningbo Port needs to transform from a port of China to a port of the world. Experts say Ningbo should learn from Singapore, the largest transit port in the Asian-Pacific region. It should also strive to improve its re-export capacity, give full play to its role as a logistics hub and take the initiative to go global in order to achieve new development in foreign trade

Foreign trade via Ningbo Port exceeding 200 billion dollars

The foreign trade via Ningbo Port has made a historical breakthrough, with the total exceeding 200 billion US dollars. On the afternoon of January 12, Xu Gaochun, Vice Secretary General of Ningbo Municipal Government, declared that in 2011, the import and export output through the port of Ningbo reaches 200.44 US dollars, increased by 24.2% over the previous year, making a historical new high. Of the total, the import is 76.69 billion US dollars, increased by 26%; the export 123.75 billion, increased by 23.1%.

In the last year, Ningbo further opened to the opening to the outside world. Related departments like the customs, the commodity inspection, marine affairs and so on further optimized the customs and inspection services.

In the meanwhile, Ningbo opened the regular container trains to Shangrao and Taizhou and promoted the reform of the customs and direct release services for exported commodities. In the last year, the efficiency for the customs clearance rose by 16.26% and 11.7%.

The port of Ningbo is becoming a very important one in China. "Compared with the port of Qingdao and the port of Shanghai, the port of Ningbo is most attractive for us," said Li Jingchen, General Manager of Qingdao Jilong International Logistic Company. In 2010, about 30% of the total export by the company is through the port of Ningbo. In the last year, the proportion rose to 80%.

The statistics of the General Administration of Customs show that the volume of import and export via the port of Ningbo covers 5.5% of the total of import and export of China, only next to Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Nanjing, Qingdao and Huangpu. In the import of such commodities as petroleum, iron ore, liquid chemicals, coal, wine and fruits, the port of Ningbo plays a very important role

f t g m