Copyright 2024 - Ningbo Life / Ningbo Expat

Ningbo Port's annual container throughput reached 14.5 million TEUs

In 2011, with its strategic aim of becoming an international strong port, Ningbo Port achieved a historical high for its annual container throughput. According to the production briefing of Ningbo Port Co. Ltd, the annual container throughput of the port reached 14.5 million TEUs, up by 11.6% over the last year. In terms of the amount of container throughput, Ningbo Port ranks No.3 among the mainland coastal ports and NO.6 in the world.

Affected by the international economic situation, in 2011, some major shipping companies withdrew or combined some main container routes to the United States and Europe. Ningbo Port took active measures to cope with problems under such a difficult background. Within the year, 43 new routes were adjusted or opened and three disused routes were restored. At the end of the year, there were 236 routes, a net increase of eight routes over the previous year. The yearly number of container flights added up to 15,000.

By setting up more "dry ports", Ningbo Port extended its goods shipping bases further into the inland. So far, "dry ports" in Jinhua, Yiwu, Shaoxing, Quzhou, Shangrao and Yingtan have been put into operation. In 2011, the business volume of the "dry ports" reached 218,000 TEUs, up by 95% over the previous year. With the interaction of such parties as Ningbo Port International Container Company, the railroad branch of Ningbo Port Co. Ltd, "dry ports" and freight forwarders, the port completed a rail-sea container transportation volume of 46,500 TEUs, up by 65% over the previous year

Xiangshan SME Financial Service Center Opened

The financial service center for SMEs of the Rural Credit Union opened in Xiangshan on December 26. The center, as the first exclusive service institution in the Rural Credit System of Ningbo, provides specialized and professional services for SMEs.
The director of Xiangshan Rural Credit Union said that the center would offer credit business for all the small and medium-sized enterprises which meet the relevant terms for loans and provide one-stop services of consultation, deposits, loans and other VIP services.
It is learned that the SMEs are facing difficulties in development at present. The center will offer some financial services including mini-loans for start-ups, convenient loans for small and mini-enterprises and short-term flowing loans. It also plans to provide loans of below 500,000 yuan for the small and mini-enterprises and loans of below 200,000 for individual businesses, for which no quotas are imposed.

Innovation adds wings to Beilun's economy

2011 is the first year of the 12th Five-Year Plan Period. During the first 11 months, Beilun's industrial enterprises of/above the designated size have generated an output value of 170 billion Yuan, about 1/6 of that of Ningbo, with the profits reaching near 13 billion Yuan, about 1/4 of that of Ningbo, both hitting a record high. The indexes of industrial investment, actual utilization of foreign capital, imports and exports all rank first in Ningbo. The growth rate on average exceeds the projected target of the 12th Five-Year Plan and the average level in Ningbo.
 “The rise in economic returns is attributed to the progress in the economic restructuring and changes of the growth pattern”, said Chen Lixing, director-general of Beilun government. Thanks to the improved industrial spatial layout, the output value in the 9 important sectors accounts for more than 95% of the total output value in Beilun. And Beilun has been seeing economic growth in its striving to set up 10 leading enterprises, 20 key enterprises and 200 enterprises with strengths by the end of 2012. From January to November of this year, leading enterprises including Ningbo Steel has reached an accumulated output value of 109 billion Yuan with an increase rate of 20.5%, about 60% of the output value of Beilun industrial enterprises above the designated size.
Innovation has been a stimulus in Beilun economic development. During the past 11 months, high-tech industries have attained an output value of 67.7billion with a growth rate of 25%. The output value of new products has been 32.7 billion Yuan with a growth rate of 38.8%, 16.8 higher than the increase rate of that of industrial enterprises above designated size. Now there are 64 high technology enterprises in Beilun with an annual investment in science research and development of 8,540million Yuan, taking up 2.5% of Beilun GDP.
Beilun has been making full use of its port advantage, building itself into the center of foreign capital utilization in Zhejiang province. During the past 11 months, its contract utilization of foreign capital has been 1,155 million Yuan and actual utilization of foreign capital 742 million Yuan, respectively enjoying a rise of 23.1% and 25.9%, the highest in Zhejiang. The 40 new investment projects, 17 out of which have an investment of more than 10 million Yuan, take in a total investment of 2.08 billion Yuan, doubling that of the same period last year. Utilization of foreign capital has further improved Beilun industrial structure.
Energy conversation also contributes to the economic increase. Beilun has launched 142 energy-saving projects this year and invested a planned amount of one billion Yuan in removing the energy-consumption and heavily air-polluted enterprises. It is expected to save 447,000 tons of standard coals this year. With that, Beilun ranks first in investment volume and energy-saving amount in Ningbo.
Beilun leaders have been confident in addressing difficulties in economic development. New giant projects will sustain the upgrading of the port economy. There have been 147 new projects this year, 51 of which having a planned investment amount of 50 million Yuan each and 5 having more than 1 billion Yuan. There are 106 projects listed as the provincial or municipal-level key projects. This year, Beilun’s planned investment is expected to reach 105% of the year’s target, totaling 21 billion Yuan which goes to 76 key projects. Both the number and the investment amount reach a record high

Yuyao Claimed the "Happiest" City Title for a Third Time

On the evening of 26th, the awarding ceremony for Chinese Happiest Cities was held in Nanjing, Jiangsu. Yuyao claimed the title for a third time, being the only county-level city in Zhejiang province to get this honor for three times in a row.
In recent years, CPC Yuyao Committee and Yuyao Municipal People's Government have been increasing fiscal support on the improvement of people’s livelihood. The input this year for people’s livelihood takes up 70% of the general budget, reaching four billion Yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 22%. The money mainly goes to projects that concerning the welfare of the masses, such as projects of medicine and health, social security and education.
Progress has also been made in other fields. On public transport, the first town-level public bus route has been opened in Simen. 79 new buses are added with 130 bus stops in operation. On housing, 2008 units of houses covering an area of 194,000 square meters have been built for the low-income rural residents. 359 old and dilapidated houses have been rebuilt. On art, 50 amateur groups of art, established in accordance with policies that subsidize such groups, have given performances for 606 times. And 100 fitness centers have been set up. On government subsidy, new standards of government allowances for urban and rural residents have been set, benefiting 9200 people. And a fund of 50 million Yuan has been earmarked for those unable to pay for the medical expenses

Fenghua's pneumatic industry allies for upgrading

We found a couple of days ago on the desk in the office of Zhang Jialun, secretary-general of the Fenghua Pneumatic Industry Association a work plan, which had the Sono’s proportional electrovalve project, JELPC’s automatic testboard project, both of cutting-edge technologies. “This is the schedule after the technical innovation alliance was founded. It will be for the hard-nut problems for the pneumatic enterprises and higher institutions to work out”, said Zhang.
As a national demo base of pneumatic industry clustering and the export base of pneumatic components, Fenghua has stepped on a road to agglomeration. The pneumatic association has 150 member companies, with the exports taking up half of the total of the trade in China. But due to the lack of input for innovation, technical foundation and slow restructuring, the overall competitiveness has been hampered. To make things worse, it has to face crushing from competitors in the world market.
To realize an agglomerative development of the industry, the Association has collaborated with a dozen higher institutions of China, like the national pneumatic product quality control and testing center, the Qinghua University, and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and formed an innovative pneumatic industrial alliance. Through integrating resources of the industrial chain, the enterprises and the universities join hands in development of key technologies, general and core technologies, trying to make breakthroughs in upper stream, mid-stream and downstream industries and application terminals and forge an upper-stream to downstream industrial chain possessing leading core technologies.     
To achieve the upgrading, the Alliance has made a road map for development for the enterprises. It plans in coming five to ten years, it will be able to cultivate one or two international famous companies, five to six influential companies, and meanwhile develop a number of knock-out products. It aims to make Fenghua an important distribution place of pneumatic products in China and Asia at large.
It is learned that despite the severe overall economic situations, from January to November this year the large pneumatic enterprises in Fenghua have generated output of 1.5 billion yuan, up 23% over the same period last year

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