SHENZHEN'S Yantian port, in which a Hutchison Whampoa-led consortium has taken a 70 per cent stake, has the potential to become an important port in southern China, says a Hong Kong shipping company.
Yantian has been designated by the Chinese Government as one of four main deep water international ports in the country.
In a recent visit to the port, Orient Overseas Container Line concluded that the Shenzhen port had a geographical advantage over other ports in the region.
Spokesman Stanley Shen said the port was not only deep enough for the third generation of cargo ships carrying 3,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), but was also free from the problem of silting.
''This means that the maintenance cost of the port will be quite low,'' he said.
Major infrastructure projects were under way to support the port, including a railway line which reaches Beijing and a highway along the Pearl River delta.
