Chinese port Ningbo Zhoushan, the world’s busiest cargo handler, has signed a deal worth USD $18.3 billion that will cover over 20 major projects.
The agreement was signed in late December 2016 and projects are set to cover multimodal transportation system, bulk commodities storage and transportation systems, the river-ocean combined transportation information platform, and modern shipping services.
The port is hoping that the contract will work to advance the plans to make Ningbo Zhoushan China’s only ‘river-ocean transportation services centre’.
The Zhoushan River-Ocean Combined Transportation Service Centre is projected to be set up in April 2019. It will cover the whole new district of the Zhoushan Islands, Beilun, Zhenahi, Jiangdong (present Yinzhou) and Jiangbei District of Ningbo, with expected land area coverage of about 2500 square kilometres, as well as a sea area of about 21,000 square kilometres.
The complex was chosen for the ‘river-ocean’ role last April by the State Council, the government’s top policymaker, to complement China’s Belt and Road foreign trade initiative and push for more inland economic development in cities along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
