Taicang port wharf opens

Taicang port on the Yangtze River has opened a wharf costing 15 billion yuan (about HK$13.95 billion) to expand its support of Shanghai's shipping industry.

Taicang, which received its first foreign-registered vessel last week, can now accept ships of up to 150,000 tonnes at high water, the China Daily Business Weekly reported.

Taicang and Ningbo, south of Shanghai, have been designated as key supports for a plan to make the Shanghai area into a major international shipping centre.

Taicang is to be developed into four zones - hi-tech, petrochemical industrial, an international town funded by the China Ocean Shipping Group Corp and general industrial.