China is slated to invest 12 billion yuan (US$1.45 billion) in the first phase of a deep-water harbour project to strengthen Shanghai's position as an international shipping centre.

The Yangshan deep-water harbour project, located in the city of Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang Province, consists of five container berths, a 32-kilometre-long bridge connecting Shanghai's Luchao Harbour and Yangshan port in Zhoushan.

Shanghai's harbour is currently overloaded with marine traffic. Its design capacity for containers is only 2.9 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), but the harbour handled 5.6 million TEUs last year.

Experts point out that the water channel of the largest harbour in China is too shallow to handle the fifth and sixth generation of container ships which require berths deeper than 13 metres.

This may make it difficult for Shanghai to compete with harbours in the Republic of Korea and Japan to become the shipping hub of East Asia.

The State Council decided to build the Shanghai international shipping centre in 1996 and after almost five years, the State Development Planning Commission selected the Yangshan area of Zhoushan as the site for the project.

The proposed port is almost as large as the Three Gorges project and the proposed railway to Tibet in terms of investment.

Experts from the Ministry of Communications believe Yangshan harbour, with its unique position on the mouth of the Yangtze River, will play an important role in developing the inland regions of China, while strengthening Shanghai's competitiveness against other international harbours in East Asia.

When the Yangshan harbour project is completed, the annual handling capacity is expected to reach more than 15 million TEUs with 50 berths. The water channel will be more than 15 metres deep, allowing it to handle the depth demand of the newest container ships.

China Daily news