Introduction of Guangzhou Port
Guangzhou Port is the main seaport of Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, China. The port is operated by Guangzhou Port Group Co. Ltd which is a state owned company. The company was established on February 26, 2004 from the former Guangzhou Harbor Bureau. It was approved by the Guangzhou Municipal Government. It is currently the largest comprehensive port in South China. Its international maritime trade reaches over 300 ports in more than 80 countries and districts worldwide. The port also incorporates the former Huangpu Port.
The port also serves as the important economic and transport center for the Pearl River Delta region and Guangdong province. It is also vital transport hub for industries located in neighboring provinces such as Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi.
Guangzhou was an important port during the ancient times as far back as the Qin Dynasty. It served as a trading port as the “Silk Road on the Sea”.The port became one of China’s busiest ports during the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty.
Guangzhou Port comprises 4600 berths, 133 buoys and 2359 anchorages each of 1,000 tonnage class and the largest capacity is 3,000 tons.The government has approved of the dredging of the port to allow 100 000 tonnes vessels to enter Nansha at high tide in July 2009. The port is currently dredging to allow 100 000 tonnes vessels to enter Nansha terminal in low tide.
As the biggest comprehensive hub port in South China, Port of Guangzhou is experiencing an increase in cargo volume and ships calling in. This is due to the buoyant economic activity in Guangzhou and the surrounding hinterland.
In 1999, Port of Guangzhou surpassed its annual cargo throughput of 100 million tons. It is the second port in Mainland China to ranked with such record volume. As a result, the annual cargo volume continues to grow. In 2006, the whole Guangzhou Port surpassed 300 million tons (ranking the third in China’s coastal ports and the fifth among the world top ten ports) and 665 million TEUs, and Guangzhou Port reached 201 million tons and 4.774 million TEUs.