New ro-ro dock to strengthen trade, exchanges with Hainan

Zhanjiang capitalizes on advantageous location to better integrate with nearby economic areas

A new roll-on roll-off－or ro-ro－dock was put into operation in Xuwen Port in Zhanjiang, South China's Guangdong province, on Saturday, reinforcing the city's position in the province as a key connection with neighboring Hainan province across the Qiongzhou Strait.

"The construction of Xuwen Port is a key move for Zhanjiang to cooperate with the Hainan Free Trade Zone," said Zheng Renhao, Party secretary of the city, at the opening ceremony.

The project cost some 2 billion yuan ($293.6 million) and it has 16 ro-ro berths for 5,000-tonnage cargo and passenger vessels, and one 5,000-tonnage ro-ro berth specially designed for hazardous goods.

The new dock, capable of handling 3.2 million vehicles and 17.28 million passengers a year, aims to create seamless connectivity among roads, waterways, railways and urban public transport, facilitating shipments across the Qiongzhou Strait and promoting cooperation between Guangdong and Hainan provinces, local officials said.

Upon the port's opening, the travel time by sea between Xuwen county in Zhanjiang to Haikou, Hainan has been reduced from two to three hours to about one hour.

"Zhanjiang will take the new dock at Xuwen Port as a fresh start to serve the national strategies, including the Hainan Free Trade Port and make greater contribution to the country's development," Zheng said. "We will improve facilities at Xuwen Port and provide better management and services to build it into a model port."

Situated in a strategic position linking the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Beibu Gulf economic zone and the Hainan Free Trade Port, Zhanjiang enjoys distinct advantages in terms of its location.

The Qiongzhou Strait, across which the two provinces face each other, is an important channel in terms of Hainan's free trade port construction and development, as more than 90 percent of daily supplies to the island are shipped via the strait.

Government data show more than 14 million passengers and 5 million vehicles are transported from Zhanjiang to Hainan by sea annually.

One of the first batch of key cooperation cities to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, Zhanjiang is committed to building itself into a provincial subcenter city and a pillar in a drive of creating a modern coastal economic belt. It is integrating itself into an expanded regional transport network, local media reported, noting that the Xuwen Port project is of great significance to developing Zhanjiang into a national comprehensive transport hub.

To date, Zhanjiang has established regular cooperation with Hainan at different government levels in trade, transportation, tourism and fields closely related to people's quality of life, with more than 20 agreements signed between the two sides.

Among them is a strategic cooperation framework agreement inked by Zhanjiang and Haikou in February 2019 to jointly build a new western international land-sea trade corridor.

The two cities have joined hands to advance the formulation of a Qiongzhou Strait transport plan in a bid to promote integrated shipping routes and ports development.

Industries are a key part of the cooperation between Zhanjiang and Hainan province, Zheng said.

Capitalizing on the effects of reform policies launched at Hainan Free Trade Port, Zhanjiang will ride the wave of the free trade port's development to boost its own growth with complementary advantages, he said.

The cooperation will drive harbor-based industries, coastal tourism, featured agriculture and military-civil integrated development, which are all priority sectors in Zhanjiang's efforts to develop into a modern service extension hub for Hainan, local officials said.

Currently, Zhanjiang is improving its bonded logistics center, preparing to upgrade it to a comprehensive bonded zone and applying for incorporating Zhanjiang Port and Donghai Island into the Guangdong Free Trade Zone extensions.

At the same time, Zhanjiang and Hainan have increased the frequency of scheduled liner services, jointly exploring shipping routes to destinations involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Government data show 266,000 containers of twenty-feet equivalent units were shipped between Zhanjiang and Hainan in 2019, an increase of 15.7 percent year-on-year.

The two sides' joint efforts also include a plan to create a bulk cargo trade center in Zhanjiang and a strategic cooperation agreement between Zhanjiang Port Group and the Hainan International Energy Exchange.

During an inspection to Zhanjiang by Li Xi, Party secretary of Guangdong, and Ma Xingrui, governor of the province, Li called on Zhanjiang to integrate itself into the development of the Bay Area and the Shenzhen Pilot Demonstration Zone for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, align itself with the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and advance infrastructure construction, such as highspeed rails, a new airport, expressways and ports.

He also encouraged the city to attract major projects and collaborate with the cities of Maoming and Yangjiang for coordinated development of port-neighboring industrial clusters in the coastal economic belt, in a bid to improve strength and competitiveness.

Government officials from Guangdong and Hainan provinces as well as other representatives attend the opening ceremony of a new roll-on roll-off dock in Xuwen Port in Zhanjiang, a coastal city in Guangdong, on Saturday. LIU JICHENG/FOR CHINA DAILY

A car drives onto a vessel at a roll-on roll-off dock at Xuwen Port. LIU JICHENG/FOR CHINA DAILY