The northern side of Small Yangshan, though not as deep as the southern side, could well be developed into an international transportation hub for transition between rivers across the region, Fang Huaijin, vice-president of Shanghai International Port Group, was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency.

Against the backdrop of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta region and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the two port groups have decided to cooperate.

The collaboration is also a big step toward fulfilling the action plan for the integration of ports and shipping of the Yangtze River Delta region, jointly issued last year by the Ministry of Transport and local governments of Shanghai and Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, which stated that construction of the northern side of Small Yangshan should start by the end of 2019. 

The first phase of the north side project will extend 1.2 km along the coastline, and have a total turnover capacity of 3.5 to 4 million TEUs, according to SIPG Chairman Chen Xuyuan.

Compared to road transition, transport by water will lower costs by 200 yuan to 300 yuan per TEU, and shorten the logistics procedure by between one day and half a day, according to Liu. 

"The development of the northern Small Yangshan will benefit the integration of the Yangtze River Delta Region and Yangtze River Economic Belt area in multiple levels, and the innovative collaboration creates opportunities for further collaboration across the region in the future," said Zhou.