Guoyuan Port Begins Operations to Transfer Goods to Europe

CHONGQING, China, Dec. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Chongqing Guoyuan Port, a crucial shipping centre in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, was put into use on December 5. With an annual through capacity of 300 billion tons, it will be connected with Yuxin'ou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) International Railway, via which cargo from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in eastern and central China can be transported to Europe.

Although construction begin in 2008 and will complete in 2015, with a total investment of 10.5 billion yuan, it can already handle 400,000 TEU containers, 3 million tons of bulk cargo and 500,000 roll-on-roll-off trucks at present.

The port is designed to build a large logistics industry chain by closely linking its docks with Highway Logistics Park, special railway lines, Warehousing Logistics Park and Lingang Industrial Park in the area.

The special railway lines to Guoyuan Port connect with Yuhuai (Chongqing-Hunan) Railway, which will open to traffic by the end of 2014, and they also link to Yuxin'ou International Railway, which will boost the port's annual through capacity to 250 million tons.

The port's collecting and distributing conditions, as well as excellent water depth that can accommodate 5,000-ton ships year-round, could change the single railway transportation pattern for goods in west China.

Guoyuan Port's convenient road network includes expressways like Huyu (Shanghai-Chongqing), Yuyi (Chongqing-Yibin) and Chengyu (Chongqing-Chengdu), carrying goods from the port to neighboring provinces and cities.

Particularly, Chongqing Customs and AQSIQ Chongqing branch have approved inspection and quarantine points, as well as customs supervision in the port's container terminal, expanding the port's foreign trade options.

Liangjiang New Area has sought closer economic relations with foreign countries since the beginning of 2013. Statistics showed that the new area eyed more than US$ 20 billion in total import and export value from January to September 2013, up 20% over the same period of last year. The growth rate was 12.3 percentage points higher than the national average, accounting for over 42% of the city's total.

The new area's inland opening-up bridgehead construction of an international logistics platform, consisting of water ports, inland ports and airports, is going smoothly.

Jiangbei International Airport, the largest of its kind in western China, boasts two runways and two terminals covering approximately 200,000 square meters to date. The third runway and T3 terminal are under construction. The airport will grow into an international hub airport with four runways and annual throughput of 75 million passengers.

In rails, Longtousi Railway Station (Chongqing North Railway Station) is the largest of its kind in interior China. Chongqing is accelerating construction of a comprehensive railway network project named "1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8 hours" (one hour from Chongqing-Chengdu and eight hours from Chongqing-Shanghai).

According to the plan, the city's railway density will reach the average standard of developed European countries, laying a solid foundation for Liangjiang New Area's development.

Guoyuan Port operations will further promote the new area as a hot destination for global investors.