24/09/2019
- Shanghai’s authorities have doubled the free-trade zone to 240 square kilometres by including part of Lingang, a previously untapped area linked to the Yangshan deep water port
- The expansion reflected the city’s renewed efforts to build a free marketplace that can rival regional business hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore
Aerial photo taken on March 9, 2017 shows the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ). Photo: Xinhua
Shanghai’s ambitious plan to turn Lingang into a Hong Kong-style free-trade port has yet to impress European companies due to a slow pace of enforcement with a series of liberalisations subject to Beijing’s approval.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said on Tuesday that the business lobby group was expecting concrete measures to be implemented at the 119.5-square kilometre newly expanded free-trade zone (FTZ), which would whet European companies’ investment appetite, but it also vented dismay towards the slow progress.
It was advisable for the government to carry out planned reforms sooner to convince foreign investors of the golden opportunities inside the zone, said Carlo Diego D’Andrea, the chamber’s Shanghai chairman, who is also vice-president of the EU business chamber in China.
“After so many years [of waiting], we would like to see reform happen soon, not just the talks,” he said in an interview with South China Morning Post.
Shanghai doubled the size of the free-trade zone last month to about 240 sq km by including part of Lingang, a previously untapped area that is linked to the
Yangshan deep water port.
The expansion reflected the city’s renewed efforts to build a free marketplace that can rival regional business hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
Where is China’s Silicon Valley? SCMP Graphics
Hong Kong’s ongoing street protests against a controversial extradition bill have wreaked havoc on the city’s economy and brought an
opportunity to mainland metropolises such as Shanghai and Shenzhen to catch up with the special administrative region.
Shanghai plans to impose zero tariffs on imported goods inside the Lingang FTZ, but the reform measures cannot be implemented unless the General Administration of Customs gives a green light.
Shanghai’s city government had proposed a series of incentives aimed at building Lingang into a world-class investment magnet, the free-trade zone’s deputy director Wu Wei said at a Friday press conference, without elaborating on when the policies might be endorsed by the relevant ministry-level authorities.
Professor Zhou Zhenhua, president of Shanghai Academy of Global Cities, said the central government was still cautious of taking drastic steps in quickly liberalising the Lingang FTZ amid worries of rampant capital and cargo flows.
US bestselling electric vehicle maker Tesla has built its Gigafactory 3 at the Lingang FTZ after it secured an approval from Beijing to establish a wholly owned assembly plant late last year.
The approval for the first wholly-owned foreign car factory on mainland China coincided with a sales drop in the country’s automobile market, the first contraction in nearly three decades.
“Why could not you have opened the market before when the market was booming,” said D’Andrea.
He said that the timing of scrapping the foreign ownership cap amid the first negative growth of the domestic car market in three decades was not enough to show Beijing’s determinations in drawing overseas funds.
Beijing has been harping on its resolution in further opening up the markets to foreign businesses as a way of amid the US-China trade war that began in 2018.
Source: SCMP
Posted in Central government, China’s Silicon Valley, electric vehicle maker, embracing, European firms, European Union Chamber of Commerce, expanded, expansion, foreign car factory, free marketplace, free trade zone (FTZ), Gigafactory, Hong Kong, Lingang, lookout, Mainland China, regional business hubs, rival, Shanghai, Shanghai Academy of Global Cities, Shenzhen, Singapore, south china morning post, tangible incentives, Tesla, Uncategorized, US-China trade war, Yangshan deep-water port, zero tariffs |
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13/04/2019
- Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries now exports quay cranes, gantry cranes to more than 300 ports in 100 countries, with 70 per cent of the global market
- China International Marine Containers Group (CIMC), took a little more than a decade to become the world’s largest maker of shipping containers
Quay cranes along a berth at the Yangshan deep-water port in Shanghai on September 14, 2011. Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Machineries, established in 1992, has grown along with the explosive development of China’s ports to control 70 per cent of the global market for cranes, loaders and lifting equipment used in ports. Photo: Xinhua
The explosive growth of China’s container ports has turned one of the most important vendors in shipping into a best-in-class industry leader, whose cranes can now be found in 300 wharves in 100 countries, with 70 per cent of the global market share.
Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, a unit of China’s state-run construction behemoth China Communications Construction Company, makes quay cranes, gantry cranes, loaders and stackers used for loading and unloading shipping containers. It also developed the infrastructure for the automated berths in Phase IV of Shanghai’s Yangshan port, and in Qingdao.
Its net profit jumped 47.6 per cent last year to 443 million yuan, while sales was little changed at 21.8 billion yuan (US$3.25 billion).
“It is a major showcase of China’s manufacturing capability,” said Sun Can, a Chuancai Securities analyst. “The company has its own technologies and is a powerful player in the global port machinery industry.”
Why China now has six of the world’s 10 busiest container ports
Established in 1992, the company was formerly known as Zhenhua Port Machinery for its speciality in making lifting equipment on the harbourfront. Taking advantage of China’s low wages, Zhenhua quickly carved out a big chunk of the global market share by selling machines at lower prices than its competitors.
The company’s former chief executive Guan Tongxian, a confessed workaholic known for his hard-driving working ethic, retired at the age of 76 in 2009, the same year that the company renamed itself to reflect its forays into marine transport and installations, as well as the construction of special steel structures including the Las Vegas Ferris wheel, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and Norway’s Hardangerfjord bridge.
Rows of gantry cranes standing along the Huangpu River in Shanghai on 26 June 2002. A consortium of Chinese domestic banks provided a 17 billion yuan (US$2 billion) credit line toward the construction of Shanghai’s Yangshan deep-sea container port. Photo: AFP
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Listed on the Shanghai exchange in 1997, Zhenhua’s shares have risen 41 per cent in the past 12 months, ending 2.1 per cent lower at 4.46 yuan on Friday. All three analysts who cover the stock recommend their clients either “buy” or “accumulate” the stock, expecting Zhenhua to be a major winner in China’s megaplan to build infrastructure along the old Silk Road in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Another major company that has emerged with China’s rising tide was China International Marine Containers (Group), or CIMC, a unit of the state-run conglomerate China Merchants Group. Established in 1980, the company took a little more than a decade to dominate the global industry, becoming the world’s largest maker of shipping containers since 1996.
Visitors look at rows of containers at the Yangshan deep water port in Shanghai on April 6, 2006. Photo: AP
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Net profit jumped 34.7 per cent to 3.38 billion yuan last year, while sales rose 22.5 per cent to 93.5 billion yuan.
The company has also diversified into land transport and vehicles, boarding bridges used in 200 airports around the world and even the development of industrial parks.
Guosen Securities said in a research report that CIMC would face lower profit margin this year amid rising raw material costs and fiercer competition from global rivals.
Its shares have risen 43.7 per cent in the past 12 months on the Shenzhen exchange to 15.20 yuan as of Friday.
Source: SCMP
Posted in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), building frenzy, Chief Executive, China alert, China International Marine Containers Group (CIMC), containers, cranes, gantry cranes, Guan Tongxian, Hardangerfjord bridge, Huangpu River, International Marine Containers (Group), Las Vegas Ferris wheel, Norway, ports, Qingdao, quay cranes, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Shanghai, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, Shenzhen exchange, shipping containers, Silk Road, trade boom, Uncategorized, wharves, workaholic, world market, Yangshan deep-water port, Yangshan port, Zhenhua Port Machinery |
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