Proposal for new Silk Road launched
May-27-2014 By : agxadmin
Reconstruction of the ancient Silk Road through Central Asia to Europe would create the world’s longest project. The 6,000-kilometer-long dream envisioned by Chinese President Xi Jinping would open a new frontier for Chinese development. The Silk Road proposal “has attracted global attention as a framework covering a wide range of issues,” said Pan Guang, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society of Middle East Studies. The initiative involves both overland and maritime routes. The land route would generally follow the Silk Road of 2,000 years ago. It would connect the city of Xian in northwest China with Venice, where Marco Polo began his legendary voyage to the Orient. The 21st century incarnation would pass through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Romania and Germany. “The New Silk Road will enable trade to flow easily east and west just as it did centuries ago,” Erlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in a recent article about improved regional economic integration. Trade made the original Silk Road flourish for 1,600 years, and trade is expected to underpin the development of the New Silk Road. Investment opportunities are expected in infrastructure projects such as energy pipelines, highways and rail links. China’s New Silk Road concept also involves sea routes connecting ports in Indonesia, Thailand and India. Some initiatives that help define the New Silk Road concept are already under way. Chengdu started freight rail services to Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland last year. The high-speed train, with a capacity of 41 containers, takes 14 days – five days longer than air freight but 25% cheaper.
Three Gorges Dam exceeds cargo target set for 2030
By : agxadmin
The Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower project, has reached its shipping capacity and already exceeds the target set for 2030, the Ministry of Transport said. One of the key benefits of the vast infrastructure project was an increase in shipping capacity, but now engineers are struggling with the challenge of how to provide more room for cargo on the Yangtze river. The dam has made the river deeper and slower, allowing for easier navigation – especially upstream – for cargo and passenger vessels. The limiting factor for cargo, however, is the capacity of a five-step lock and a soon-to-be-completed ship lift to transport vessels across the 181-meter high dam. “We estimate the throughput of the five-tier ship lock of the Three Gorges Dam will hit 110 million tons this year, far beyond our expectations,” Li Yang, Deputy Director of the Policy Research Department of the Ministry of Transport, said at a press conference in Beijing. “The shipping capacity of the three Gorges Dam’s lock is already full.” Li said the project was designed in the 1980s when experts estimated that less than 100 million tons of shipping would pass through each year before 2030. The tonnage of shipping using the five-tier lock exceeded 100 million for the first time in 2011, more than five times the level before the dam was constructed. It reached a record high of 100.06 million tons last year, representing 40,848 cargo vessels and 2,461 passenger ships, or 300,000 tons per day. In normal conditions, ships need to wait an average of 40 hours to get through the locks. Li said a new ship lift would be completed by July next year. “But the lift’s annual throughput capacity of cargo will be just 6 million tons,” he added. The Yangtze river is the leading means to transport cargo in the mountainous Three Gorges area, the China Daily reports.
Increase in port activity reported
By : agxadmin
Container throughput at major domestic ports has been on the upswing since March, indicating that foreign trade will keep growing in the months ahead and meet the government’s targets this year. According to Chineseport.cn, container throughput at the nation’s top 10 ports was up more than 7% year-on-year in April, after expanding 6.5% in March. The increase “sent a strong signal that China’s foreign trade is still showing a good performance, despite growing worries that the world’s second-largest economy is slowing down”, said Xiao Feng, Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen Onetouch Business Service Co, a trade service provider. The increased volumes are “a true picture of China’s current trade, which has benefited from a steady recovery in the United States and Europe and surging demand from the Asian market,” Xiao said. Container throughput at Ningbo, Zhejiang province, increased more than 20% year-on-year in April, while Shanghai, the country’s largest port by capacity, saw a 6% increase last month, Chineseport.cn said. The container volume figures stood in marked contrast to the trade slowdown in value terms. Total trade contracted 3.1% year-on-year to CNY8.1 trillion in the first four months. In April alone, total trade slumped 1.3% year-on-year, following a 6.5% decline in March, according to the General Administration of Customs. According to Xiao, last year’s export figures were probably distorted as some companies inflated their export orders to channel capital into China. The practice has been curtailed by the recent yuan depreciation and tighter controls by the authorities. Exports to Hong Kong plunged 33.1% year-on-year in the first four months, as many false trade declarations filed last year were described as exports to Hong Kong, the China Daily reports.
China Rongsheng Heavy Industries signs shipbuilding contract
By : agxadmin
China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings, one of China’s biggest shipbuilders, signed a USD1 billion contract with a European shipowner to build up to 36 bulk carriers within the next three years, thanks in part to a strong global shipping market. Of the total, 24 are confirmed orders and 12 are optional so that the shipowner can buy them at a fixed price in the future to hedge against unpredictable spikes in ship prices. The buyer can also choose not to buy if shipping rates go down. Among the 24 confirmed orders, 18 were signed by Rongsheng last year at a lower price, but the terms were renegotiated at a higher order price given the robust status of the dry bulk shipping market. Rongsheng refused to disclose the identity of the buyer. In the first quarter, new orders by Chinese shipbuilders have grown 170% from a year earlier, among which 96% were from foreign buyers, according to the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry. All the 36 ships to be delivered are dry bulk carriers of 64,000 DWT. According to Clarkson Research, Rongsheng is the world’s third-largest shipbuilder and the largest in China in terms of orders on hand at the end of December 2012. The company reported a loss of CNY8.7 billion for last year.
Approval requirement for marine insurance companies scrapped in Shanghai FTZ
By : agxadmin
Marine insurance companies and reinsurance firms in Shanghai do not need to apply for administrative approval to set up sub-branches in the city’s free trade zone (FTZ), the first time the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has dropped the requirement. Additionally, all types of insurance sub-branches in the zone will be able to appoint new heads without getting the regulator’s approval, the CIRC said in a statement. The latest move seeks to boost insurance businesses in the FTZ. The CIRC also said the Shanghai Marine Insurance Association will develop marine insurance policies and registration with the regulator. Pei Guang, Director of the Shanghai Insurance Regulatory Bureau, pointed out that it is the first time an industrial association is allowed to register new policies, the first time marine insurance agents can set up sub-branches, and the first time setting up sub-branches do not need approval. The Association now has 31 members, of which 25 are insurance companies. Tu Guangshao, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, said the measures are part of market liberalization policies.
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