A well-known port city in South China, Zhanjiang was among the first 14 coastal cities in China to open up to the world.

Zhanjiang is located in the southwest of Guangdong Province at the southernmost point of China's mainland, comprising the whole Leizhou Peninsula, facing the South China Sea in the east, neighbouring Hainan Province across the Qiongzhou Strait in the south and linking the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to the west.

Home to 7 million people, Zhanjiang has one national-level economic and technological development zone and five provincial-level economic development zones.

Zhanjiang enjoys the shortest sailing distance from China's mainland to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Oceania and occupies an important strategic position in the Beibu Gulf. In November 2001, Zhanjiang proposed to launch the Beibu Gulf Organization For Economic Co-operation (BGOEC) in order to promote the common development of the region.

Being a major hub port in the country, Zhanjiang Port is one of the three major national strategic ports.

It forms a port group with Zhanjiang Port and other ports along the coastline of Leizhou Peninsula. Zhanjiang Port has more than 20 berths for vessels with tonnage between 10,000 and 50,000 tons, the first land oil products berth in the nation with a tonnage of 300,000 tons, the first ore berth with a tonnage of 200,000 tons and the deepest-water harbour in South China. It also boasts direct marine transportation links with more than 100 countries and regions.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10), Zhanjiang port will invest about 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion) in the construction of large-scale projects. By 2010, the handling capacity will exceed 100 million tons, making it an A-level international deepwater port.

Zhanjiang is an important oil import, storage and trading hub in South China. It is also the biggest transiting base of ore, food and chemical fertilizers. Its offshore continental shelf in the north of the South China Sea is abundant in reserves of natural gas and crude oil. China's three gas companies, China National Petroleum Corporation, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Corporation have all made large investments in Zhanjiang.

With the launch of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, pillar industries such as petrochemicals, offshore crude oil and natural gas exploration, electric power, processing of agricultural and aquatic products feed, textiles, electronic appliances and machinery and papermaking will have more room for development.

With the completion of the Guangdong-Hainan Railway, the Chongqing-Zhangjiang Expressway and other major transportation projects, Zhanjiang will be better able to link the neighbouring areas and become an important sea and land transportation hub in South China.

Currently, many Fortune 500 companies and famous domestic enterprises have invested in Zhanjiang. With more than 30 major projects, with a total investment of 50 billion yuan (US$6.25 billion), to be launched in the next three to five years, Zhanjiang is set to become an economically strong city in South China.

(China Daily 10/31/2006 page16)