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China Maritime Shipping
During the early 1960s, China's merchant marine had fewer than
thirty ships. By the 1970s and 1980s, maritime shipping
capabilities had greatly increased. In 1985 China established
eleven shipping offices and jointly operated shipping companies in
foreign countries. In 1986 China ranked ninth in world shipping
with more than 600 ships and a total tonnage of 16 million,
including modern roll-on and roll-off ships, container ships, large
bulk carriers, refrigerator ships, oil tankers, and multipurpose
ships. The fleet called at more than 400 ports in more than 100
countries.
The container ship fleet also was expanding rapidly. In 1984
China had only fifteen container ships. Seven more were added in
1985, and an additional twenty-two were on order. By the early
1980s, Chinese shipyards had begun to manufacture a large number of
ships for their own maritime fleet. The China Shipping Inspection
Bureau became a member of the Suez Canal Authority in 1984,
empowering China to sign and issue seaworthiness certificates for
ships on the Suez Canal and confirming the good reputation and
maturity of its shipbuilding industry. In 1986 China had 523
shipyards of various sizes, 160 specialized factories, 540,000
employees, and more than 80 scientific research institutes. The
main shipbuilding and repairing bases of Shanghai, Dalian, Tianjin,
Guangzhou, and Wuhan had 14 berths for 10,000-ton-class ships and
13 docks.
The inadequacy of port and harbor facilities has been a longstanding problem for China but has become a more serious obstacle
because of increased foreign trade. Beginning in the 1970s, the
authorities gave priority to port construction. From 1972 to 1982,
port traffic increased sixfold, largely because of the foreign
trade boom. The imbalance between supply and demand continued to
grow. Poor management and limited port facilities created such
backups that by 1985 an average of 400 to 500 ships were waiting to
enter major Chinese ports on any given day. The July 1985 delay of
more than 500 ships, for instance, caused huge losses. All of
China's major ports are undergoing some construction. To speed
economic development, the Seventh Five-Year Plan called for the
construction by 1990 of 200 new berths--120 deep-water berths for
ships above 10,000 tons and 80 medium-sized berths for ships below
10,000 tons--bringing the total number of berths to 1,200. Major
port facilities were developed all along China's coast.
Data as of July 1987
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