Ten-year growth of Wenzhou port and shipping

A good port that has read all the historical storms is bathing in the dawn of the East China Sea and making every effort to revive the brilliant glory of the "Millennium Commercial Port". Its name is Wenzhou Port.

This is a journey of ups and downs: from the birth of the primitive port in the Warring States period to the rise of trade with Japan in the Tang and Song Dynasties, from the closure of the maritime ban in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the forced opening of the Yantai Treaty, from the single route before the reform and opening up to the East China Sea and integration into global trade …

This is a magnificent picture of changing scenery: in the past 40 years, in line with the pace of reform and opening up, Wenzhou Port has jumped from "three single" small ports to an important hub of the national coastal port and national comprehensive transportation system, as well as an important seaport for foreign trade in southwestern Zhejiang, eastern Jiangxi and northern Fujian.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Wenzhou Port and Wenzhou City have always resonated at the same frequency, coexisted and prospered together, and gradually "broke the cocoon into a butterfly", drawing a picture of a new era of deep integration of port production and city.

In the past ten years, under the guidance of the high-level development of the Master Plan of Wenzhou Port, the infrastructure of Wenzhou Port has been continuously improved, and 25 key construction projects, such as the first phase of Area A, the first phase of Area C and the second phase of Zhuangyuan ‘ao Port, have successively landed and accelerated; Six key plans, such as the master plan of the port area of Damen Island and the adjustment of the planning scheme of Zhuangyuan ‘ao Port Area, were approved. At present, there are 169 productive wharf berths in Wenzhou Port, including 20 deep-water berths of 10,000-ton class and above and 7 berths of 50,000-ton class and above. The port infrastructure level has been steadily improved, helping Wenzhou Port stride towards deep blue and embrace the world.

In 2016, Wenzhou Port was included in the integrated development of the province’s seaports. As a key layout of the south wing of "one body and two wings", Wenzhou has made many historic breakthroughs. At present, Wenzhou Port has opened 10 foreign trade routes to Southeast Asia, Japan and Russia, and domestic container routes basically cover major coastal ports.

In August 2020, Yueqing Bay Railway was put into operation, and Wenzhou Port entered the era of sea-rail combined transport. By the end of 2020, the container throughput of Wenzhou Port has achieved a historic breakthrough of "million TEUs", and the status of Wenzhou Port as an important port in the southeast coast has been further highlighted. With the completion of the first phase of the Champion’s Ao Port Area and the start of the second phase of the project, Wenzhou Port is accelerating the leap from the "Oujiang era" to the "East China Sea era".

Entering the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Wenzhou has painted a beautiful picture of "a thousand-year-old commercial port and a happy Wenzhou", and around the goal of "Wenzhou Port will become a 100-million-ton port in 2024 and realize two million TEUs in 2025", it will make every effort to build the core project of "two centers and one demonstration" of the offshore route center in southern Zhejiang, the multimodal transport center in southern Zhejiang, northern Fujian and eastern Jiangxi, and the linkage demonstration city of four ports, and build an international cargo consolidation and LCL base and a port and shipping producer service industry.

In the future, Wenzhou will comprehensively promote the implementation of the national comprehensive freight hub’s plan to supplement the chain and strengthen the chain, and build Wenzhou Port into an important fulcrum of international multimodal transport of bulk cargo and containers and a "world supermarket" supply chain trade hub. By 2025, six berths of 50,000-100,000 tons will be built in the second phase of Champion’s Ao and Area C of Yueqing Bay, and 20 offshore routes will be opened in Wenzhou Port. The center pattern of offshore routes in southern Zhejiang will basically take shape, the multimodal transport center in southern Zhejiang, northern Fujian and eastern Jiangxi, with the seaport as the leader, will take shape, the international cargo collection and LCL base will be completed and put into use, and the province’s "four ports linkage" demonstration city will achieve remarkable results.(Correspondent Xie Baoguang, Shuai Shuai, reporter Xia Jingying)

Port development chapter

As 27 major coastal ports in China, Wenzhou Port is an important hub of the national comprehensive transportation system and an important strategic resource for Wenzhou and its surrounding areas and southwestern Zhejiang to participate in economic globalization and develop export-oriented economy.

The overall planning of Wenzhou Port was approved in 2008, and it is positioned as a feeder port for container transportation, which is an important hub of the national comprehensive transportation system. The planned layout is "one port and seven districts", and the planned port coastline is 189 kilometers. The port mainly focuses on bulk cargo and container transportation such as energy and raw materials, actively develops container trunk transportation, and gradually develops into a modern, multifunctional and comprehensive port with advanced facilities, perfect functions, efficient management and remarkable benefits.

In recent ten years, Wenzhou Port has ushered in a period of rapid development, accelerating the transfer and agglomeration from "within the mouth of Oujiang River" to "outside the mouth of Oujiang River".

Yueqingwan port area

As one of the six key bay areas in the province, Yueqing Bay has a long coastline and a vast hinterland. It is the core main port area of Wenzhou Port and one of the four industrial bases near the port. In 2021, the annual cargo throughput of Yueqing Bay Port exceeded 20 million tons for the first time, reaching 20,281,200 tons, up 28.99% year-on-year.

Since the development and construction of Yueqing Bay Port started in 2006, it has invested about 30 billion yuan in construction. In recent years, Yueqing Bay Port Area has attracted many "big" projects such as Yihai Kerry and CONCH to settle down, and the advantages of the port area have gradually turned into industrial advantages.

On March 29th this year, the construction of three 100,000-ton general berths in Area C of Yueqing Bay Port started. After completion, it will comprehensively improve the throughput capacity of Yueqing Bay Port Area, better link railways to form sea-rail combined transport, and enhance the port carrying capacity of Yueqing Bay Port Area.

Daxiaomendao port area

Damen Island Port Area is one of the important deep-water port areas planned by Wenzhou Port, and it is an important support for the development of port-facing industry in our city. The total length of the planned coastline of the port area is 11.5 kilometers, and it has the conditions to build a 200,000-300,000-ton bulk cargo berth. The planned annual throughput of the port area is 115 million tons. The port area mainly serves the port-facing industries, and currently has a number of key enterprises such as PetroChina Fuel Asphalt, Zhejiang CNPC huadian energy and Wenzhou LNG Project.

In 2017, the master plan of Xiamen-Xiamen Port Area of Wenzhou Port was approved, and the petrochemical industry of Xiamen-Xiamen Island had a planning basis. At present, with the LNG project of Zhejiang Energy Group with an investment of 9.03 billion yuan, the Wenzhou oil depot project of Zhejiang Petroleum with a total investment of nearly 500 million yuan settled in Xiaomen Island, and four enterprises, such as CNPC Asphalt and Sinogas Huadian, have been built, the port area of Wenzhou Damen Island will usher in the rapid construction period of petrochemical industrial base.

Zhuangyuan’ ao port area

Zhuangyuan ‘ao Port Area is the priority deep-water port area of Wenzhou Port. It can use the coastline of 14,140 meters, and plan to build 25 deep-water berths with a handling capacity of 70 million tons. It will form a business pattern that mainly focuses on containers and cruise ships, taking into account the transportation of groceries and LNG peak shaving. Three berths of 50,000-ton container terminals in the second phase of Zhuangyuan ‘ao Port Area under construction will be fully completed and put into operation in 2025, and the container throughput will increase by 1.55 million TEU；; Wenzhou Hua Gang LNG storage and peak shaving center project is expected to be put into use in 2023.

The Champion’s Ao Port Area has opened 10 routes from Wenzhou to the Philippines, Vietnam and Russia. On December 29th, 2020, at Zhuangyuan ‘ao Wharf, with the "1 millionth TEU" steadily hoisted to the "Haifeng Shandong", the annual container throughput of Wenzhou Port exceeded "one million TEUs" for the first time.

With the completion and commissioning of the first-phase project of Zhuangyuan ‘ao Port Area and the acceleration of the second-phase project, Wenzhou Port will accelerate the leap from the "Oujiang era" to the "East China Sea era".

Oujiang port area

It mainly includes Longwan, Qili and Lingkun operation areas. Due to the needs of urban development, Longwan and Qili operation areas will face the problem of production function withdrawal. Lingkun operation area will be developed as a key operation area, which mainly undertakes the transfer of freight functions of the former Wenzhou old port area and Longwan operation area and serves the material transportation of Wenzhou central city. In the near and medium term, we will focus on promoting the construction of berths 24-28 in Area II and Area IV of Lingkun Working Area.

Ruian, Pingyang and Cangnan port areas

It mainly focuses on local material transportation and port-based industrial services. In the near future, we will focus on promoting the development and construction of 3,000-5,000-ton berths in Pingyang Xiwan Operation Area, Longgang Operation Area and 50,000-20,000-ton berths in Cangnan Xiaguan Operation Area, serving port-facing industrial projects such as Pingyang Zhengwei and Cangnan Wind Power.

Integration of communication and travel

In recent years, Wenzhou Port and Shipping Co., Ltd. has fully explored the advantages of the land of mountains and rivers and the ocean, promoted the renovation of Wangjiang Wharf, conducted in-depth research on the planning of cruise home port and the construction of Tanghe "one ring and three lines", and formed the "Investigation on the integration and development of Wenrui Tanghe River", and planned the interactive development of resources such as nanxi river, Oujiang River, cruise ship, inshore, island and water sports, so as to activate the natural endowment of Wenzhou island and landscape.

Oujiang night tour

Oujiang Night Tour Project is the first "Urban Night Tour New Cultural Tourism Complex" in China, and it has won three Guinness World Records: the world’s largest mountain light show, the world’s largest light waterfall and the world’s largest permanent water curtain projection.

The project includes a 13-kilometer urban night tour space of Oujiang River, 5 docks, 4 bridges, 9.5 million square meters of mountain, landscape belt and Jiangxinyu, etc., and uses lighting to interpret the magical landscape with Wenzhou characteristics and the cultural scene of Ouyue. Since its operation in 2019, Oujiang Night Tour has been loved by the public and has become a demonstration project for the innovative development of night travel in Wenzhou and even the whole country.

Tanghe night painting

Wenruitang River is the mother river of Wenzhou people. The "Tanghe Night Painting" starts from Nantang Street Cruise Terminal in the east and reaches Xishan Bridge in the west, with a total length of 4.2 kilometers. The bright night+popularity of Tanghe night paintings make the "poem painting landscape, warm state" present different beauty.

Wenzhou international cruise

On December 9, 2017, the first cruise ship of Wenzhou International Cruise Port, Mediterranean Lyric, set sail. Before the epidemic, Zhuangyuan ‘ao International Cruise Port, as the only port of departure for normal operation in the province, attracted more and more tourists from Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui and other surrounding areas, with an average annual growth rate of 33%. In the future, Wenzhou Port and Shipping Co., Ltd. is committed to building international cruise ships into a new city card of Wenzhou, constantly improving cruise services and developing cruise business.

Aojiang-Nanji tourist passenger boutique route

In March of this year, the route from Aojiang to Nanji was awarded the title of provincial-level waterway tourist passenger transport boutique route, and was selected as a transportation department-level waterway tourist passenger transport boutique route (pilot). This route is the main waterway between Nanji Islands and scenic spots, with an annual passenger traffic of 200,000 passengers. In recent years, the transportation department of Pingyang County has invested about 100 million yuan to build Nanji Port and Shipping Convenience and Tourism Service Center Project and Pingyang Aojiang Chedu Wharf Project (Phase I).

Trade opening

On July 21st, 2020, the container liner "Haifeng Max" of SITC (Haifeng International) slowly left Zhuangyuan ‘ao Port Area of Wenzhou Port after loading nearly 100 TEUs, marking the official opening of Wenzhou-Indonesia, another major international logistics channel of Wenzhou Port.

In April this year, a US-West route of Jinjiang Shipping (Group) Co., Ltd. added Wenzhou Port as a passing port, and three freight shifts were put into trial operation to load a total of 352 TEUs, making it the first ocean-going container route of Wenzhou Port. The direct flight to Los Angeles in 15 days greatly saves time and economic costs, and is more suitable for the export mode of Wenzhou light industrial products with "multi-variety, small batch and multi-batch", and each TEU can reduce the burden on enterprises by over 10,000 yuan.