From May 18, 2012, the practice of “One Application for All Port Handovers” will be implemented on all the ships coming in and out of Taicang Port in China’s Jiangsu province and it will be gradually extended to all other ports in Jiangsu later on. It is said that the new measure will make Taicang the first inland port in China ever approved to enjoy the privileges of a harbor.

China made it clear earlier that Taicang would serve as the north wing container port for the Shanghai International Shipping Center as well as a transmit hub port for the river and sea shipping. With a total handling capacity of 97.8 million tons, including 4.35 million tons for container handling capacity, Taicang Port has had 100 routes for container shipping. Though it is an inland port, Taicang has shifted to a harbor since January 2011 when the 12.5-meter deep water channel of the Yangtze River was extended north to Taicang and it has hence got the capacity of accommodating a 50,000-ton container ship in full tide, the two-way shipping of 50,000-ton bulk cargo carrier in full load, and 100,000-ton container ships, 100,000-ton bulk cargo ships and 200,000-ton load-relieving bulk cargo carrier in tide rising. To this end, Jiangsu provincial government and the provincial transportation department each filed an application to the Ministry of Transport of People’s Republic of China, asking for all the ports in the lower ranges of the Yangtze River down from the Nanjing section to be offered the harbor privileges. After carrying out a special study, the Ministry later issued a circular on May 14, 2012 in which it approved the practice of “One Application for All Port Handovers” to be implemented on all the ships coming in and out of Taicang port from May 18, 2012 on and made it clearly that when the condition is right, the practice would be further extended to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

This is an important measure taken to suit to the development of regional water transport integration and make innovations on the related management mechanism. It will have a positive impact on enhancing the logistics shipping capacity of Taicang and other ports in the surrounding areas, upgrading the ports’ capacity in serving the social and economic development of the inner land as well as promoting the economic development of the Yangtze River Delta region and various reaches of the Yangtze River.