According to the departments concerned, work on the infrastructure of the international deep water port at Yangkou, Nantong, has made smooth progress a year since its commencement. The framework of the port is expected to be completed by 2008 as a supplement of the Shanghai shipping centre.
The port is being built along the Lanshayang deep tidal channel in the waters off Rudong county, Nantong, at the northern tip of the YRD. It is 17 metres deep and can be built into a deep-water port for vessels with a tonnage of 100,000-200,000 tonnes. It is a fine natural harbour with a wide and straight water channel that leads directly to the outer sea. The river ports of Jiangsu can handle offshore transportation, but all ocean-going vessels must go through the Shanghai port and Ningbo's Beilun port. For example, the 1 million tonnes of imported iron ore needed by iron and steel enterprises in coastal Jiangsu are all transshipped through Beilun, while all petroleum imported by the province has to pass through Ningbo's Zhenhai port. Thus, the completion of the Yangkou international deep-water port is a pressing task for Jiangsu.
It is understood that the Yangkou port development project has attracted many international corporations and consortia, such as Gold Eagle of Singapore, Total of France, Shell of Britain and Holland, Worldwide Shipping of Hong Kong, and Energy Transportation Group Inc of the US. Hong Kong's Paul Y-ITC has had a head start and secured a part in the construction of the port infrastructure.
