THE Chinese Port of Nanjing that reopened for business one month ago has been stepping up its efforts to handle greater container volumes as factory production picks up in China
THE Chinese Port of Nanjing that reopened for business one month ago has been stepping up its efforts to handle greater container volumes as factory production picks up in China. As early as the end of January, Nanjing port transferred tens of thousands of empty containers from the ports of Shanghai and Ningbo to prepare for the immediate export of goods when local enterprises resume work, reported Nanjing's Ourjiangsu.com.
'During the epidemic prevention and control period, it is difficult to get empty containers. We transferred 120 thousand empty containers to facilitate Jiangsu export enterprises to export goods at Nanjing port and more than 70 thousand containers have been shipped,' said Nanjing Port Production Business Department director Zhang Jinxian.
Nanjing port ensured the stable operation of the eight shipping routes with Japan and South Korea. In March, the cargo volume on these two routes rose by 20 per cent year on year.
In early February, Nanjing port took the lead in the province to start resumption of work and became one of the ports across the country to resume full-scale operation.
It soon regained its leading position along the Yangtze River by increasing its TEU throughput by 190 per cent from the period before the coronavirus pandemic.
'We chartered buses to transport workers from other provinces to the port and installed quarantine zones, so that we were able to resume work in the shortest possible time. We maintained steady operation in March,' said Nanjing Port Authority deputy CEO Di Feng.
Other ports in Jiangsu have also raced against the clock to step up production and maintain operations.
The port of Zhenjiang reported a year-on-year increase of 13.4 per cent in its container throughput in March.
Container throughput in Lianyungang and Nantong grew by 3.28 per cent and 7.8 per cent, respectively.
At present, the province's port operations and container business are showing recovering growth. In March, container throughput increased by 51 per cent compared to the previous month, which is close to the level of the same period last year.
'We are determined to advance towards the annual goals by maintaining a steady growth on the domestic and overseas markets,' said Jiangsu Port Group deputy general manager Tang Hongsheng.
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