On January 11, 2018, the first grand annual event of the port and shipping logistics industry—the 5th Annual Meeting of the China Top 50 Shipping Elites Forum (50SEF), the 1st Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Port and Shipping Logistics Development Forum, and the 5th China Shipping Industry Innovation Conference—was grandly held at Nansha Hotel in Nansha District, Guangzhou.
With the continuous deepening of the Belt and Road Initiative and the proposal of the concepts of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and free trade port zones, a brand-new path of transformation has been paved for the port and shipping industry. As a core city of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou is seizing policy opportunities to build core advantages. In 2017, remarkable achievements were made in the construction of Guangzhou International Shipping Center. Guangzhou Port achieved a historic breakthrough, with its container throughput exceeding 20 million TEUs for the first time, reaching 20.36 million TEUs, and its cargo throughput reaching 590 million tons. Guangzhou Port Group and Dongguan Port Group signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement. Taking the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as an opportunity, the two sides will jointly build a Guangzhou-Dongguan shipping system featuring complementary advantages and resource sharing, and create a world-class hub port. Therefore, holding the opening grand event of the port and shipping industry in 2018 in Nansha, Guangzhou, was indeed timely.
At the main forum held this morning, Ni Wei, President of China Shipping Gazette (CSG), and Chen Hongxian, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of Guangzhou Port Authority, delivered speeches on behalf of the organizers and supporting units respectively. A number of guests from government departments, research institutions and port and shipping enterprises delivered speeches on the theme of the conference, sparking ideological exchanges.
Ni Wei, President of China Shipping Gazette (CSG), stated that this conference focuses on how to leverage Nansha's unique advantages in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to jointly explore innovative development in the context of the new era. She hoped that participating guests would deeply participate in the forum and actively contribute wisdom and strength.
Chen Hongxian, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of Guangzhou Port Authority, stated that Guangzhou will effectively promote the construction of Guangzhou's port and shipping industry with the attitude of an entrepreneur and a pursuer.
In the keynote speech session, Xu Zuyuan, Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Maritime Ambassador of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transport, delivered a speech themed "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area: Ushering in a New Era of Shipping". He believed that the introduction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Plan will profoundly affect the development of the port and shipping industry. In his keynote speech at the conference, he stated that the scale of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area determines that it will be the largest hot spot for the shipping industry. In resource allocation, shipping elements will be further enriched and improved. At the same time, the superimposed effect of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will further promote the development of the shipping industry in the region. For the development of the port and shipping industry in Nansha, Guangzhou, he put forward four suggestions: first, innovate investment facilitation and trade facilitation measures; second, innovate and improve the modern shipping service system; third, innovate the shipping headquarters economy model to attract more shipping enterprises to settle down; fourth, further strengthen the interconnection of port and shipping infrastructure.
Wang Ming, Director of the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation of the National Development and Reform Commission, delivered a speech themed the development trend of the logistics industry and the development direction of the port and shipping hub economy. He analyzed the path of bay area construction under the dual linkage of regions and industries, as well as how to give play to the location and resource advantages of each city to form industrial chains, cultivate industrial clusters, realize industrial synergy, and then seek global breakthroughs in the value chain. He emphasized that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area needs to study the overall modern industrial ecosystem and form within the entire bay area.
Xie Zhijian, Chairman of Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, delivered a speech analyzing the throughput changes and development of eight major container terminals in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and other regions within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the past 20 years. He believed that in the future, Nansha is expected to tap hinterland resources through policy advantages, and the development prospect of container ports is unlimited.
Liang Jianwei, Counselor of the Guangdong Provincial Government and Former Director of Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration, delivered a speech titled "Vigorously Promote the High-Quality Development of Guangdong's Port and Shipping Industry and Strive to Take the Lead in the Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area". He stated that Guangdong should make efforts in improving port facility service capabilities, accelerating the integration of port resources, building a pattern of complementary advantages and sound development of port clusters in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, accelerating the exploration of Guangdong Free Trade Port, and strengthening the construction of shipping talent teams, so as to take the lead in the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Huang Youfang, President of Shanghai Maritime University, delivered a speech themed "Port and Shipping Innovation and Development Strategy under the Background of Free Trade Port Construction". He shared the linkage development between free trade ports and the port and shipping industry, as well as his thoughts on the port and shipping innovation and development strategy. He believed that in the future, the port and shipping industry should rely on the transformation of supervision models to adapt to the new situation of being inside the territory but outside the customs; rely on institutional innovation requirements to conform to the new trend of international standards; rely on the linkage development of ports and shipping to adapt to the new trend of cross-border competition. This will achieve the extension of the industrial chain, the integration of the supply chain and the high-end of the value chain. He also emphasized that Guangzhou should pay attention to the training of port and shipping talents. At present, Nansha, Guangzhou has signed an agreement with Shanghai Maritime University to jointly promote the construction of a high-end think tank platform and a high-end talent training platform.
Chen Jingliang, Deputy Chief Engineer of China Railway Express Co., Ltd., delivered a speech titled "Connect and Integrate, Mutual Benefit and Win-Win, Jointly Promote Better and Faster Development of Multimodal Transport", introducing the business development of China Railway Express and its cooperation with ports.
Li Yubin, Deputy General Manager of China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited, delivered a speech titled "How to Leverage the Belt and Road Initiative to Jointly Build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area". He believed that there are three key factors in this: leveraging the Belt and Road Initiative to allocate global resources; building hubs to promote interconnection; and efficiently integrating comprehensive elements to boost development.
Pan Yuzhang, Member of the Party Working Committee and Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of Nansha Development Zone (Nansha Area of the Free Trade Zone), introduced the development of the Guangzhou Nansha New Area of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone. At present, Nansha has formed five leading industries including shipping logistics, high-end manufacturing, scientific and technological innovation, financial business, and tourism and health. It is one of the three major shipbuilding bases in China, a national manufacturing and export base for automobiles and parts, and a nuclear power equipment manufacturing base in the Pearl River Delta. It has formed a 100-billion-level automobile industry cluster and a 100-billion-level financial leasing industry cluster.
At the conference, Chen Hongbing, Editor-in-Chief of China Shipping Gazette (CSG), Secretary-General of the China Top 50 Shipping Elites Forum (50SEF) and Secretary-General of the International Shipping Enterprise Association (ISEA), released the Global Container Carrier User Satisfaction Index for the Third and Fourth Quarters of 2017. In the third and fourth quarters of 2017, the comprehensive index was 833.1 points, among which the shipowner satisfaction index improved.
This conference was hosted by Yang Xiao, Vice President of China Shipping Gazette (CSG) and Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of China Logistics City Alliance.
In the last session of the morning conference, the awarding ceremony for the council member units of the National Council of China Shipping Gazette (CSG) was held. COSCO SHIPPING, CMA CGM, Yang Ming Marine Transport, SITC International, China Merchants Port, Antong Holdings, Zhonggu Logistics, Kwise Logistics and Tianjin Songchang received the plaques.
The wonderful events continued on the afternoon of January 11. At the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Construction and Port & Shipping Logistics Innovation Sharing Session, responsible persons from Guangzhou Port Authority, the Development and Reform Bureau of Nansha Development Zone and the Port Office of Nansha Development Zone focused on promoting the preferential policies of Guangzhou and Nansha District in the port and shipping field to attract more port and shipping logistics enterprises to settle in Nansha. Representatives from port and shipping logistics enterprises focused on sharing their respective innovative concepts and achievements. The session was hosted by Zhang Jinjing, Executive Deputy Editor-in-Chief of China Shipping Gazette (CSG).
Yuan Yue, Deputy Director of Guangzhou Port Authority, delivered a speech titled "Promote the Construction of Guangzhou International Shipping Center and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area".
Yang Fan from the Development and Reform Bureau of Nansha Development Zone introduced the industry and policy system of Nansha New Area (Free Trade Area).
Lü Liangwei, Deputy Director of the Port Office of Nansha Development Zone, introduced the development of shipping logistics in Nansha, Guangzhou and the policies of the port and shipping logistics industry.
