When Nantong Port became China's 12th port with an annual handling capacity of 100 million tons in 2006, the country boast the world's largest port handling capacity.

By itself, Nantong Port, located in Jiangsu province on the Yangtze River, with it 88 berths and eight anchorages, has had little impact in easing the burden on China's overloaded ports.

Last month, Rizhao Port, in Shandong Province, was reported to have accommodated a 200-ton-class mineral ore ship, becoming China's 11th 100-million-ton-class port.

The others are Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Dalian, Nanjing and Suzhou.

Shanghai Port handled 443 million tons of cargo in 2005, exceeding Singapore to become the world's largest freight port.

According to the Waterway Transport Department of the Ministry of Communications (MOC), from 2001 to 2005, the new handling capacity of coastal ports hit 1.04 billion tons, almost equal to the total increase of the previous two decades.

The first investment peak was 2002 when the government devolved the management of ports and separated the administrative and business functions of government. Two years later, the Port Law stipulating equal treatment of state, private and foreign investors in the construction and management of Chinese ports fuelled another boom.

However, problems remained, said Shen Yihua, vice director of the MOC Waterway Transport Planning Institute. They included low turnover capacity, a lack of large ports and too shallow entry routes.

In 2005, the turnover capacity of overloaded coastal ports was officially 2.52 billion tons, but 3.38 billion tons was actually handled.

Mao Jian, head of the MOC planning department's waterway transport office, the turnover capacity of coastal ports and their handled freight quantity would equalize by 2010.

"In the next ten years, the development of port construction should be faster than economic growth," Shen Yihua said.

Meanwhile, the waterway transport department is drafting measures on fair competition.

"Currently, investment in ports mostly goes into port," said Wang Jinwen, head of the port management office of the MOC's waterway transport department. "Gradually, the focus would shift to improvement of service and technology, and the optimization of freight structure."

Source: Xinhua