International Cargo Seaport: Port of Ningbo Zhouhsan

As the world’s third-largest cargo port, the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan is still not entirely known that much, especially when compared with Shanghai and Singapore Ports—the first and second-largest. With a historic journey and exciting information that can further expand your knowledge about this particular industry, we recommend you to keep reading the article below.

About the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan

Situated near Yong River in Nanning, the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan has an extended maritime commerce and trade history. On the western side of the riverbank, it features an outpost that used to be a fishing port. The port is also facing the East China Sea, detached from Zhoushan by a small water section.

This port covers a large area and lengthy shoreline that stretches for almost 220 kilometers. Comprising 19 port areas, it’s the owner and operator of many of Mainland China’s deepwater facilities. It’s an excellent distribution location for cargos entering and exiting Mainland China since it links the Pacific Ocean’s busiest shipping lanes—backed with China’s most vibrant Yangtze River Delta economic zone.

Since 2005, the port’s freight traffic has increased dramatically, totaling 27.535 million TEUs in 2019, the third position globally. The overall cargo throughput surpassed 1.12 billion tons, putting it first globally for the 11th year in a row.

The History

The Port of Ningbo Zhoushan used to manufacture ancient Chinese furniture, traced to 4800 BC or the Hemudu civilization. Thousands of years later, the port was recognized as one of the country’s national heritage sites in 1986. This is how long the port’s history is.

Many Korean seamen came here in the late 5th century, gradually making it an integral location for eastern China. In 738 AD, the Ming Dynasty established it as an autonomous prefecture. Even after formal connections with Korea broke down in 838 AD, large-scale private commerce still persisted.

At the beginning of the 11th century, it became a central hub for maritime commerce. Its importance grew in 1127 when the outside trading began to pour via Ningbo and when the capital of South Song was built at Hangzhou. From the 10th to the 13th centuries, the port expanded fast and prospered.

The textile sector has significantly grown here since WWII, as facilities specializing in knitting, yarn-spinning, and dyeing were established all over. The end of 2019 has recently marked the port’s milestone in creating linkages to over 600 ports in 190 regions and countries, with approximately 250 trade networks, including 120 water lines.

More about the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan

Like the other seaports globally, the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan also had to face challenging times due to the pandemic last year. Fortunately, the Meishan terminal at this port has opened again after a two-week closure that took a toll on the already overburdened Asian freight lines.

The port’s “restoration” should, in principle, relieve the globe’s overburdened supply chain’s industrial hub. Several Chinese terminals were “clogged” due to the shutdown, as boats scheduled to call at Ningbo were redirected elsewhere.

We hope the information about the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan above gives you something new to know! Go ahead and try checking out our other informative port-related articles as well!