We continue our review of the largest oil loading ports in the world
Special economic zone
Shenzhen, located in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, the settlement is ancient, but it began to grow and develop only after the construction of the Kowloon-Canton Railway in 1910; The proximity to Hong Kong played a key role in this. In 1980, another, even more powerful factor appeared – as part of the course of market reforms, it was decided to create China’s first special economic zone here. After that, for a quarter of a century, the annual increase in the gross product in Shenzhen averaged 31%, exports increased by 42% per year.
In 1999, Shenzhen hosted the 1st China Hi-Tech Fair, which has since become an annual event. In the 2000s, Shenzhen entered the top five largest Chinese cities in terms of gross domestic product. In August 2011, the XXVI World Summer Universiade was held in Shenzhen. More than 13 million people live in Shenzhen (the 6th largest in China).
The seaport of Shenzhen is located in the Pearl River Delta. The 260 km long coastline is divided into two parts by the Kulun Peninsula; the western part is deeper (draft limit – 7.5 m). The area of covered warehouses is 360 thousand square meters. m, open container sites – 600 thousand square meters. m. The main cargoes are agricultural products (wheat, rice, fodder crops), ore, rolled metal products, chemical products, oil and oil products, liquefied gas, containers, cement, fertilizers (phosphorites). The annual cargo turnover is 300 million tons.
At the mouth of the Pearl River
Guangzhou is one of the historical cities of China, it is almost 3000 years old (founded in 862 BC). Previously, Guangzhou was known in Europe as Canton (most likely, this is the pronunciation of the name of the province of Guangdong in the local dialect). The city has other names – Wuyancheng (“city of five goats”), Huacheng (“city of flowers”), and a number of others.
Since the time of the Ming Empire, ships from Europe began to arrive here; moreover, until 1840, Guangzhou was the only port in China open to European merchant ships. It was with the blockade of this port that the First Opium War began. After the war, an extraterritorial Anglo-French settlement was formed in Guangzhou, which was not controlled by the Chinese authorities.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Guangzhou was the site of a series of unsuccessful uprisings against the Qing Empire, which became the forerunner of the Xinhai Revolution. After the overthrow of the monarchy, in 1921, the local revolutionary authorities separated the urbanized parts of Panyu and Nanhai counties into a separate administrative unit – the city of Guangzhou; this was the first time that a city in the Western sense of the word appeared in the Chinese system of territorial administration.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, in 1938, and until August 1945, Guangzhou was occupied by the Japanese. After the Second World War, Great Britain and France gave up their possessions in China, and the Anglo-French Settlement in Guangzhou was abolished. During the civil war, the city was a stronghold of the Kuomintang; Chinese communist troops entered Guangzhou in October 1949, after the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China. Today, Guangzhou, with a population of about 20 million people, is the third largest city in China (after Shanghai and Nanjing).
Port of Guangzhou located at the mouth of the Pearl River. It is the largest harbor in southern China, the fourth largest in the country and the fifth largest in the world. The port, operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Port Group, has more than 100 general and specialized berths and anchorages. Restriction on draft depth – 9 m. Total area of covered warehouses – 170 thousand square meters. The harbor serves 300 regular sea routes to ports in 80 countries. The main cargoes are agricultural products (grain, sugar), fertilizers, cement, ore, machinery and equipment, oil and oil products, coal, general cargo, containers, cars. The annual cargo turnover is 650 million tons.
Stronghold of petrochemistry
An important milestone in the rich history of Zhanjiang was 1899, when, in accordance with an agreement, the coastal zones of the southern Chinese counties of Suixi and Wuchuan were leased to France. This is how the Guangzhouwan Settlement was formed, subordinate to the authorities of French Indochina. In early 1943, Japanese troops occupied the strategically important points of this territory, including the airfield. In August 1945, a convention was signed on the return of Guangzhouwan to China, and soon the settlement was abolished, and the city was renamed Zhanjiang. Today, the population of the city is more than 7 million people (26th in the ranking of Chinese cities).
The port of Zhanjiang, operated by the state-owned Zhanjiang Port Group, specializes in the transshipment of iron ore, oil and oil products, coal, fertilizers, timber, metal products, textiles, pulp and paper products, grain and sugar. The harbor houses shipbuilding and ship repair enterprises, as well as an offshore oil production support base serving oil platforms of the large Ushi field and a number of other fields. In addition, the headquarters of the Southern Fleet of the Chinese Navy is located in the port of Zhanjiang, and warships, submarines, naval aviation, coastal defense units and marines are based. The annual cargo turnover of the harbor is 280 million tons.
On the Donghai Island (Mazhang) in the territory of the Zhanjiang Economic and Technological Development Zone, there is an integrated oil refining and petrochemical complex owned by Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation – a large industrial park with several refineries and China’s largest petrochemical port. This newly built port has 8 specialized berths for transshipment of crude oil, various types of petroleum products and liquid ethylene. The oil harbor, capable of receiving supertankers with a deadweight of up to 300,000 tons, can handle up to 34 million tons of liquid cargo per year.
Grigory Volchek
