As a new port, Zhongjiao Port in the Xinghua Economic Development Zone – located in Xinghua city, in East China's Jiangsu province – has been picking up the pace of market reforms, resulting in it achieving profitability for the first time last year.
In the first two months of this year, Zhongjiao Port handled a throughput of 7,500 TEUs – or twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard container size – representing a whopping year-on-year increase of 220.7 percent.
Starting operations in 2020, the port is being co-developed by Xinghua Economic Development Co Ltd and China Communications Construction Company Limited.
Due to various nagging operating problems with routes, efficiency, service capabilities and other factors, the port's throughput did not meet the set standard for three consecutive years.
In response, the Xinghua Economic Development Zone invested over 92 million yuan ($12.74 million) to help put things in order and help the port move towards market reforms.
At the end of 2022, co-developer Xinghua Economic Development Co Ltd pumped in funds to establish Xinghua Port Green Building Materials Co Ltd, with plans to produce 1.2 million cubic meters of concrete and 1.5 million tons of machine-made sand annually by utilizing idle land in the port area.
The development is expected to be completed this year and the company estimates it will increase the annual throughput of the port by over 2 million metric tons and generate a profit of over 3 million yuan.
Moreover, the port added two new shipping routes last year and introduced two large container shipping companies.
Currently, it's accelerating the establishment of customs supervision workplaces and constructing support facilities – such as foreign trade checkpoints, container yards and inspection platforms – thereby improving the levels of cross-border trade.
For the current year, the port has set a development target of handling over 50,000 TEUs of containers, which will set a new record.