2018年CRI Zhoushan Port, a bounded fuel filling center

 

The Streaming down the Yangtze team is now at Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, which is the starting point of the Maritime¹ Silk Road.

In 2017, the port's throughput capacity was registered at 1 billion tons, and was the busiest port in the world in terms of cargo² tonnage.

Ningbo-Zhoushan Port is on the East China Sea, at the crossroads of the north-south inland and coastal³ shipping⁴ route, including canals to the Yangtze River, to the north.

Our reporter Min Rui is in Zhoushan with the "Streaming down the Yangtze" team. We earlier had a conversation with her on the "Beijing Hour".

Tell us what you learned from the port?

It is the busiest port in the world in terms of cargo tonnage.

I have a list of commodities being transferred from the port, and top of that list is iron ore.

So, I learned the port is actually an iron ore distribution center for the whole Asia Pacific region.

The iron ore from Australia and Brazil came in large quantity.

The local authority plans to build an international mixed ore trading center here to cope with trading demand.

It’s all about the connectivity here. As of February, this year, the Ningbo-Zhoushan port had set up trade channels with more than 600 ports in over 100 countries and regions, with 247 shipping routes established, of which half of these routes are ocean routes.

With such a busy port, a lot of services needs upgrade too.

Earlier I talked with Xu Yan, an official with the Zhoushan River-Ocean Combined Transportation Service Center, says they will speed up the construction of a marine⁵ service base and an oil distribution hub, so the hub can provide bounded fuel filling for cargo ships.

You mentioned the oil distribution; how does that work?

I was told the port will establish a bonded⁶ fuel filling center for the Northeast Asia.

When a ship comes to the Ningbo-Zhoushan port to fill the tank, the bonded oil is being sold at a cheaper price than those from inland. Ship owners can save up to 8 US dollars per ton.

Other than price advantage, the port is also in a 500 km range circle with Korea’s Busan and Japan’s Osaka, Kobe, Nagasaki.

Officials said they plan to build a bonded oil processing center as well, to support the fuel filling business.

Is there anything particularly interests you?

I visited the design center of China's first river and ocean-going cargo ship.

The design center is located in Zhoushan with many young but talented ship designers.

They told me the density⁷ of sea water is more than river water because of presence of a number of salts dissolved in it.

So when the ship enters the sea, the weight of water displaced is now more than what it was previously⁸ when the ship was in river. The up thrust increases and the ship rises up.

So this is one of the most important technic issues they have to overcome through many calculation and experiments, and they made it.

As a result, China's first river and ocean-going cargo ship, or Jiang Hai Zhi Da 1 in Chinese, set for the maiden⁹ voyage in April.

The voyage passed China's Yangtze River and the East China Sea.

Such a river-ocean combined journey used to require transshipments from a river to ocean or ocean to river, but now with the ship, it is able to sail in both river and sea.

So far, the cargo ship has made 19 voyages, with 400,000 tons of cargo, generated more than 1 million US dollars revenue, and is expected to have more presence upstream on the Yangtze River.

That was CRI's Min Rui, part of the 'Streaming Down the Yangtze' team, at Ningbo-Zhoushan Port on the East China Sea.

1 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

2 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

3 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

4 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

5 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

7 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

8 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

9 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。