The Port of Tianjin (Tianjin Gang, ), formerly known as the Port of Tanggu, is the largest port in Northern China and the main maritime gateway to Beijing. The name "Tianjin Xingang" (), which strictly refers to the main seaport area, is sometimes used to refer to the whole port as well.
The port is on the western shore of the Bohai Bay, centered on the estuary of the Haihe River, 170 km southeast of Beijing and 60 km east of Tianjin city. It is the largest man-made port in mainland China and one of the largest in the world. It covers 121 square kilometers of land surface, with over 31.9 kilometers of quay shoreline and 151 production berths at the end of 2010.
Tianjin Port handled 500 million tonnes of cargo and 13 million TEU of containers in 2013, making it the world's fourth largest port by throughput tonnage and the ninth in container throughput. The port trades with more than 600 ports in 180 countries and territories around the world. It is served by over 115 regular container lines run by 60 liner companies, including all the top 20 liners. Expansion through the turn of the twenty-first century was enormous, going from 30 million tonnes of cargo and 490,000 TEU in 1993 to well beyond 400 million tonnes and 10 million TEU in 2012. 550âÂÂ600 Mt of throughput capacity was expected by 2015. The large volume of port traffic and high urban population makes Tianjin a large-port megacity, the largest type of port-city in the world.
The port is part of the Binhai New Area district of Tianjin Municipality, the main special economic zone of Northern China; it lies directly east of the TEDA. The Port of Tianjin is at the core of the ambitious development program of the BNA; as part of that plan, the port aims to become the primary logistics and shipping hub of Northern China.
On 12 August 2015, at least two explosions within 30 seconds of each other occurred at a container storage station at the Port of Tianjin in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, China. The cause of the explosions was not immediately known, but initial reports pointed to an industrial accident. Chinese state media said that at least the initial blast was from unknown hazardous materials in shipping containers at a plant warehouse owned by Ruihai Logistics, a firm specializing in handling hazardous materials.
The Port of Tianjin is on the coast of Tianjin Municipality, in the former county of Tanggu, on the coast between the estuaries of the Haihe to the south and the New Yongding River to the north. To the west, the port borders the city of Tanggu (now the urban core of the Binhai New Area) and the TEDA. To the east, the port opens up to the Bohai Bay.
Tianjin Port is divided into nine port areas: the three core ("Tianjin Xingang") areas of Beijiang, Nanjiang, and Dongjiang around the Xingang fairway; the Haihe area along the river; the Beitang port area around the Beitangkou estuary; the Dagukou port area in the estuary of the Haihe River; and three areas under construction (Hanggu, Gaoshaling, and Nangang).
The coastal area of the Tianjin municipality before development was dominated by mudflats, salt marshes (and salterns), and coastal shallows. This littoral zone is wide and slopes gently: The 0 meter isobath (the intertidal flats) extends to 3âÂÂ8 kilometers from shore at a slope of 0.71âÂÂ1.28%, the âÂÂ5 meter isobath extends 14âÂÂ18 kilometers from shore, and the âÂÂ10 meter isobath reaches 22âÂÂ36 kilometers from shore. These features make deep water navigation dependent on extensive dredging; it also means that land reclamation is a cost-effective option for construction. Tianjin Port is thus, by necessity, largely man-made through dredging and reclamation.
The lower course and estuary of the Haihe is the main stem of a large navigable basin, as well as the westernmost seashore of the North China Plain. There have been major ports on the area at least since the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The river port at the junction of the Grand Canal served as both an inland port and seaport supplying the northeast border of Chinese states. Since 1153, it was the critical supply hub for what is now Beijing.
However, it was not until after the conclusion of the Second Opium War in 1860 that the port of Tanggu became an important transshipment center, allowing oceangoing ships to lighten their cargoes to cross the very shallow sandbar barring the entrance to Haihe, the Taku Bar (or 大沽åÂÂ; the name of this barrier was often used by foreign powers to refer to the entire port).
After the Boxer Rebellion, the whole of Tanggu came under foreign occupation, and those foreign powers developed an extensive network of quays on the riverside. The capacity of the Tanggu and Tianjin river port was limited at first, so the Japanese occupation forces started, in 1940, the construction of the Tanggu Xingang seaport (later the Tianjin Xingang port) outside the river estuary. By the end of the war, the new port was incomplete, and damage during the Chinese Civil War left it unusable by the time of its capture in 1949.
The Communists reconstructed the Tanggu New Port slowly. On 17 October 1952, it reopened for traffic. At the time, the main channel was dredged to 6 meter depth, could handle ships of up to 7,000 DWT, and had an annual throughput of only 800,000 tonnesâÂÂless than 1/500 of present capacity. The port remained small throughout the Maoist era, although it pioneered the first container routes and dedicated container terminal in China.
The export boom that followed the post-1979 Reform and Opening period put enormous pressure on the rickety port infrastructure of China. Congestion became serious enough to force reform by the central government. On 1 June 1984, the Port of Tianjin was transferred from direct control of the Ministry of Communications to a "dual" system of shared central and local control.
Production then increased in leaps and bounds. In 1988, throughput passed the 20 million tonnes milestone, and in the ten years starting from 1993, annual throughput growth averaged 10 million tonnes every year. In December 2001, the port was the first port in Northern China to reach the 100 million tonnes mark. In 2004, it reached 200 million tonnes; in 2007, 300 million tonnes; and in 2010, 400 million tonnes. The container handling capacity of the port increased from 0.4 million TEU in 1992 to 2.4 million TEU in 2002, 7.1 million TEU in 2007, and more than 10 million TEU in 2010.
The structure of the port also changed. In 1992, Tianjin Port Storage and Transportation Company was made into a joint stock company under the full ownership of the Tianjin Port Bureau. In 1996, it was converted into the Tianjin Port Holdings Company (TPC) and listed in the Shanghai stock market. In 1997, Tianjin Development Holdings, which owned the container-handling assets of the Port, was listed in Hong Kong. Its port assets were later spun out as the Tianjin Port Development Company (TPD) and listed in the Hong Kong exchange in 2006.
The PTA delayed corporatization to steer the passing of the 11th five-year development plan for the port. The transition was only completed on 3 June 2004 when the PTA became the last major port authority in China to become a corporation: the Tianjin Port (Group) Company (天津港(éÂÂå¢)æÂÂéÂÂå ¬å¸, or TPG by its English acronym).
The 2008 financial crisis greatly affected Chinese ports as they depended heavily on foreign trade flows. The Tianjin Port did better than average due to its diversification: while container business plummeted, bulk trade (in particular iron ore) remained strong. Nevertheless, the crisis hit profits hard, and it convinced the Tianjin government to reorganize and streamline the structure of the Port, which they did in 2009 by having TPD (the smaller operator, but one with the useful foreign registration and access to foreign capital markets) take over TPC. Simultaneously, ownership of TPD was transferred from Tianjin Development Holdings (a subsidiary of the Tianjin Ministry of Commerce) to TPG. By the time the merger was concluded, on 4 February 2010, all operations in the Tianjin Port had been consolidated under TPG.
The Port of Tianjin was adversely affected by a large industrial-scale accident in 2015. On 12 August 2015, a series of explosions took place at a port chemical storage facility in Binhai, causing 173 deaths and nearly 800 injuries. The blast had the equivalent of 800 metric tonnes of ammonium nitrate or a 2.9 magnitude earthquake, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. Eight other people have remained missing.
The port is part of the Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast to the south via the southern tip of India to Mombasa, from there through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, from there to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections, and finally to Central Europe and the North Sea.
The Tianjin Xingang is divided into the Main Shipping Channel, the Chuanzhadong Channel, and the Northern Branch Channel. The Dagusha Channel and the Haihe river channel are separate fairways with slightly different regulations.
Tianjin Port has six main anchorage areas and two temporary anchorages. All anchorages are designated for all functionsâÂÂberth waiting, quarantine, inspection and pilotageâÂÂbut provide little shelter from weather or rough seas. Anchored vessels are advised to keep five cables of clearance, as anchor dragging is common (up to 5âÂÂ10 nautical miles in a day in winter due to drifting ice).
The Haihe river channel is separated from the sea channels by three structures:
The final hydraulic structure of the Tianjin Port is the Haihe Second Barrier () at Dongnigucun, in the Jinnan district. The Haihe Second Barrier is also an open-type sluice barrier, with eight vertical-rising gates allowing an average flow of 1200 cubic meters per second. The barrier, opened in July 1984, closes ship traffic upriver into Tianjin city proper, and its erection resulted in the abandonment of 29.3 kilometers of navigable channel.
The Port of Tianjin falls under the supervisory and regulatory purview of the Tianjin Municipality People's Government. The 2004 incorporation of the Tianjin Port Authority into TPG formally divested the group of its role as Port Regulator, which passed to the Tianjin Transportation and Port Authority (天津å¸Â交éÂÂè¿Âè¾ÂÃ¥ÂÂ港å£管çÂÂå±Â, or TTPA), formerly the Tianjin Transport Commission. The TTPA implements state policy on port work; drafts local policies, by-laws, and regulations; and licenses, audits, and issues certifications to businesses operating in the port, in particular to ship terminals. The TTPA supervises and manages compliance to all laws and regulations regarding environmental protection, service compliance, pilotage, maintenance of port infrastructure, and handling of dangerous goods and disinfection in all terminals and storage areas.
The Tianjin Municipality People's Government Port Services Office (天津å¸Â人æ°Âæ¿åºÂå£岸æÂÂå¡åÂÂ堬室) was set up in May 2009 to streamline port operations, in particular customs and inspection clearance procedures.
Harbormaster powers for the Port of Tianjin are mostly vested on the Tianjin Maritime Safety Bureau (天津海äºÂå±Â), which is the local agency of the China Maritime Safety Administration.
The Port of Tianjin falls under the jurisdiction of the Tianjin Maritime Court for all matters of national and international Maritime law, including all forms of maritime contracts, torts, and offenses.
Inbound ships, cargo, and personnel require clearance by four main government bodies: China Customs for customs declaration, Border Inspection for migration formalities, China Inspection and Quarantine for quarantine and fumigation, and the MSA for ship and crew safety regulations. Obtaining clearance from these so-called One Customs Three Inspections (ä¸Âå ³ä¸Âæ£Â) used to be a protracted process; one of the continued foci of port reform is to speed up the clearance procedures and reduce their (still significant) burden.
Tianjin Port Group (TPG) is both the main Port Operator and Port Landowner. It also retains some of the old Port Authority's supervisory functions. TPG is the holding company and Ultimate Controlling Party for most of the Tianjin Port operating units, and its affiliates and subordinate units run most aspects of port operation. The Dagukou port area is (at present) run separately by the Tianjin Lingang Port Group Company (天津临港港å¡éÂÂå¢æÂÂéÂÂå ¬å¸) owned by the Tianjin Lingang Economic Area Administrative Committee (of which TPG is a part).
TPG also serves as Port Landlord, providing basic municipal services (including roads, power, water and sewerage) and other services, extending from construction materials to printing services to the port's tenant operators. In this role, TPG maintains quasi-municipal authority over port areas. Finally, as with all Chinese state-owned enterprises, the control and coordination role of the local Communist Party units is significant, as is the common cross-sharing of personnel among related units.
The Vessel Traffic Service Center (天津è¹è¶交éÂÂ管çÂÂä¸Âå¿Â) of the MSA provides traffic control, navigation assistance, and local communication to all vessels in the Port's fairway, anchorages, and berths. The VTS Center is located in an 88 meter tall control tower at the eastern end of the Dongtudi (East Pier) and has two subordinate monitoring stations at Dongjiang and Lingang. Its control area extends 20 nautical miles (37 kilometers) from the tower. Compliance with the VTSC's authority is mandatory, and all ships must maintain watch on its VHF channel (channel 9) while on the port area. On the Haihe, both VHF 09 and 71 must be on watch.
The Tianjin Port's aids to navigation (AtoN) system is fairly dense and growing rapidly. The MSA Beihai Navigational Security Center's Tianjin Aids to Navigation Office (Ã¥ÂÂæµ·èª海ä¿ÂéÂÂä¸Âå¿Â天津èªæ Âå¤Â) is responsible for the maintenance of all navigational aids within the Tianjin area. In 2004, the AtoN office controlled 141 navigational aids in the Tianjin jurisdiction, including three lighthouses, 12 light beacons, 22 lead markers, 44 day beacons, 55 light buoys, one NDB station, one RBN/DGPS station, three radar transponders, two large AtoN ships, two small AtoN ships, and one survey ship operating from two wharves.
While the Port directly operates a number of hydro-meteorological stations (including tide gauges), weather forecasting is primarily the responsibility of the Tianjin Binhai New Area Weather Warning Center (天津å¸Â滨海æ°åºæ°Â象é¢Âè¦ä¸Âå¿Â), the local agency of the Tianjin Municipal Weather Bureau (天津å¸Âæ°Â象å±Â). The Warning Center uses local (26 automatic weather stations in Binhai), national, and satellite data to forecast marine and port weather.
The Beihai Navigational Security Center's Tianjin Communications and Information Center (Ã¥ÂÂæµ·èª海ä¿ÂéÂÂä¸Âå¿Â天津éÂÂä¿¡ä¸Âå¿Â) runs the Tianjin Coastal Station (天津海岸çµå°, Callsign: XSV; Call: Tianjin Radio; MMSI 004121100). The Station is in charge of the communication obligations of the Global Maritime Distress Safety System in the Port's jurisdiction, supports the SAR Center's communication needs, and supports the MSA's duties of coordination and communications.
The primary SAR coordination agency is the Tianjin Maritime Search and Rescue Center (天津å¸Âæµ·ä¸ÂæÂÂæÂÂä¸Âå¿Â), with responsibility for coordinating all SAR activities in Port waters.
The Tianjin Search and Rescue Base is one of the six rescue bases of the China Rescue and Salvage Beihai Bureau, which is the frontline rescue and salvage force of the Ministry of Transport.
Tianjin Rescue Base keeps three dynamic standby stations, normally with the following units:
Tianjin Port PSB Fire Services Detachment (天津港堬å®Âå±Âæ¶Âé²æ¯éÂÂ) holds the fire-fighting and fire prevention duties for both the land and water areas of the Port.
The Tianjin Port Hospital (天津港å£åÂȎ¢) is the primary provider of emergency medical care in the port. It is a 314-bed comprehensive hospital, owned by TPG, that is specially licensed to deal with infectious disease outbreaks, quarantine, and maritime accident trauma: its orthopedic trauma department is especially well ranked nationally.
Tianjin MSA is the Port's "National Operational Contact Point" pursuant to MARPOL, and must be contacted (VHF 9) in all incidents of shipborne harmful substance spills.
The State Oceanic Administration has overlapping authority regarding spills and pollution, usually concentrated on oil platform and pipeline incidents.
The maritime governance regime in China is peculiar in its multiplicity of actors and apparent duplication of labor. Five major agencies (MSA, SOA, CCG, FLEC, and GAC), plus the local People's Police and other local units, divide maritime and coastal law enforcement, as well as safety and administrative duties, with much overlap in formal remits. These agencies' responsibilities reflect the functional jurisdiction of their parent ministries, and their operational emphases fit those jurisdictions. Only the Coast Guard (Maritime Police) patrol vessels are armed gunboats, and the Guard has first line jurisdiction in gendarmerie missions such as terrorism, piracy, and serious crimes.
The Tianjin Port Public Security Bureau (天津港堬å®Âå±Â) is one of the fourteen branch offices of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau, with sub-bureau status. It is responsible for public order, law enforcement, criminal investigation, road traffic control, and fire safety and firefighting.
The Tianjin Port PSB has its own water police unit running its own patrol boats, which are berthed on a floating pontoon station (天津港堬å®Âå±Âæ°´ä¸Âæ²»å®Âæ´¾åºæÂÂ) built on a converted floating crane currently located on the K1 berth of the Tianjin Port Passenger Terminal.
Border Protection: the Public Security Border Troops (å ¬å®Âè¾¹é²é¨éÂÂ) are a gendarmerie force under control of the MPS in charge of border protection and security. The border guards' local ground unit is the Binhai New Area Public Security Border Protection Detachment (滨海æ°åº堬å®Âè¾¹é²æ¯éÂÂ).
The Tianjin Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau (天津海堳ç¼Âç§Âå±Â), usually called the Anti-Smuggling Police (天津海堳ç¼Âç§Âè¦å¯Â), is a People's Police unit under the dual command of the MPS and the GAC. It is the main body engaged in control, prevention, and investigation of customs fraud, duty evasion, smuggling (including cultural goods, drugs, dangerous materials, etc.).
The law enforcement arms of the MSA are the Tianjin Maritime Public Security Bureau (天津海äºÂå ¬å®Âå±Â) and the Tianjin MSA Law Enforcement Patrol Flotilla (天津海äºÂå±Âå·¡æÂ¥æ§æ³Âæ¯éÂÂ). The Tianjin Maritime PSB (not to be confused with the Tianjin Port Public Security Bureau) is responsible for maritime law enforcement and carries out marine accident and criminal investigations. The Patrol Flotilla deploys 11 patrol ships (hull numbers Haixun 05XX), which monitor and manage shipping traffic, maintain navigational order and safety, and cooperate on patrol, escort, and search and rescue missions as needed.
The Second Detachment of China Maritime Surveillance (ä¸Âå½海çÂÂ第äºÂæ¯éÂÂ) of the Tianjin Oceanic Administration has jurisdiction over the Bohai and Laizhou Bays and over all the coastal areas of Tianjin and Hebei. It monitors environmental damage, illegal use of sea resources, violation of maritime regulations, and damage to marine facilities.
The Tianjin Fisheries Management and Fishing Port Supervision and Management Office (天津å¸Âæ¸Âæ¿æ¸Â港çÂÂç£管çÂÂå¤Â) is a branch of the Tianjin Fisheries Bureau under the China Fisheries Law Enforcement Command Center (ä¸Âå½æ¸Âæ¿æÂÂæÂ¥ä¸Âå¿Â). It is in charge of enforcing fishing regulations, of controlling illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), and of fishing navigational safety.
The Port of Tianjin is a state-owned enterprise (SOE), run as an independent corporation, with separate finances and a commercial orientation. The Port Owner is the Tianjin Municipality People's Government (天津å¸Â人æ°Âæ¿), through the Tianjin SASAC (天津å½æÂÂèµÂ产çÂÂç£管çÂÂå§ÂÃ¥ÂÂä¼Â, or Tianjin State Assets Supervision and Administration Committee), which is the full owner of the Tianjin Port (Group) Company (TPG). TPG's board is appointed by the Tianjin government. TPG is the effective holding company and main Port Operator, and it owns or has a stake in the majority of the Port's various operating outfits.
Since the 2009 merger, TPG's main operating subsidiary is Tianjin Port Development (TPD), which in turn is the majority shareholder of Tianjin Port Holdings (TPC). TPG has been injecting operational assets to TPC for several years and, since 2009, to TPD (most recently the Shihua Crude Oil Terminal). This has created somewhat of a functional division. The listed TPD, directly or through TPC, controls all terminals and direct cargo-handling operations, while TPG still directly controls most of the utility, support, and ancillary units related to the Port and retains control of strategic planning. TPG is also a party in 53 joint ventures.
The subsidiaries and partial ownership partners of TPG are involved in all facets of port operation, including stevedoring, shipping agency, cargo handling, storage and transportation, infrastructure management, communications and information services, financial services, power supply, real estate development, health care, personnel training, education, port security, transportation, fire protection, port facilities management, environmental management, etc.
The core activity of the Port is, naturally, cargo handling and processing. As a comprehensive port, it handles all sorts of cargo including dry and liquid bulk, general cargo, containers, vehicles, and passengers. Tianjin Port operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day (on three shifts from 00:00âÂÂ08:00, 08:00âÂÂ16:00, and 16:00âÂÂ24:00).
As of 2011, the Port had 217 berths (including service berths); 90 berths were capable of accommodating ships over 10,000 DWT. Of these, 72 could dock ships over 50,000 DWT; 30 over 100,000 DWT, 23 over 150,000 DWT, 5 over 200,000 DWT, and 2 over 300,000 DWT.
The Port's docking terminals are operated by autonomous companies that are mostly either fully owned by, or are joint ventures with, TPC or TPD. While the 2004 Port Law allowed full foreign ownership of port facilities, TPG is still the majority shareholder of all but a few of the Port's main terminals, excepting single-company (customs type II) terminals. Additional stevedoring personnel is provided by a number of labor services companies affiliated to various operators.
Secondary wharves tend to the service, supply, and maintenance ships that a complex port needs to function. These facilities range from temporary sand unloading wharves needed for construction to large bunkering wharves, workboat stations, and the bases of the various law enforcement agencies.
The Tianjin Port Group's Operations Department (天津港éÂÂå¢ä¸Âå¡é¨) is in charge of coordinating the productive operation of the Port and must be informed of all ship movements and major operations. The production schedule (ship movement plan) is arranged by the TPG Dispatch Control Center (天津港éÂÂå¢çÂÂ产è°Â度æÂÂä¸Âå¿Â), in coordination with the wharf operators, the MSA, and the pilot center. The Dispatch Center organizes ship movements, tracks pilotage operations, and supervises terminal operations via real-time CCTV monitoring. The Dagukou port area has a separate dispatching center (天津临港ç»ÂæµÂåºè¹è¶è°Â度æÂÂæÂ¥ä¸Âå¿Â).
The main provider of harbor craft is the Tianjin Port Tug & Lighter Company. The TTLC operates the harbor tugs, fireboats, pilot boats, and other ancillary craft such as the crew boat Xinbinhai or the sightseeing boat Xinhaimen (used for inspection and visiting VIPs). The company operates 26 harbor tugs (between 2,600 HP and 6,000 HP of power), five pilot ships, seven other ancillary crafts, two floating cranes (120 tonnes and 200 tonnes capacity); and around three dozen lighters, the largest around 1,340 tonnes displacement. The Dagusha channel is served by a subsidiary company of TTLC, the Tianjin Lingang Tug Company (天津临港æÂÂè½®æÂÂéÂÂå ¬å¸), which operates four tugboats.
CNOOC Bohai Oil maintains a flotilla of 110 offshore support vessels (OSV), many home-ported at Tianjin. These boats are available for emergency work under MSA authority. Two of CNOOC's floating cranes (800 tonnes and 500 tonnes) can be commercially engaged for harbor duty.
TPG operates as the port landlord and provides most utilities, municipal services, and ancillary services to the various port operators. The services it provides are very wide in scope, spanning everything from electrical power to construction materials to printing services. The main organ of TPG's landlord function is the Tianjin Port Facilities Management Company (天津港设æ½管çÂÂæÂÂå¡堬å¸), which manages and maintains all municipal servicesâÂÂincluding roads, railroads, bridges, water, and sewerageâÂÂinstalls and maintains wharf equipment and other production material, provides municipal administration, and provides engineering consultancy services.
As an artificial port dependent on dredged channels susceptible to silting, continuous depth surveying is critical to the Port. Tianjin Port is the base of the Beihai Navigational Security Center's Tianjin Marine Survey and Charting Center (Ã¥ÂÂæµ·èª海ä¿ÂéÂÂä¸Âå¿Â天津海äºÂæµÂç»Âä¸Âå¿Â) with responsibility for the hydrographic surveying, monitoring, fairway sounding, and charting of all waters and shipping channels in the Beihai (Northern Seas) area, which includes the Bohai and Yellow seas. As of 2011, the Hydrographic Brigade had 149 personnel, two survey ships (Haice 051 and Haice 0502), surveying equipment including ROVs, and UAVs for aerial surveying
The Tianjin Dredging Company (天津èªéÂÂå±Â) is the organic waterway management company of the Tianjin Port Group. As of January 2010, the TDC deployed 100 boats and had the largest dredging capacity of China with a capacity of 300 million cubic meters and more than 500,000 kilowatts of vessel power. Despite these numbers, the scale of fairway expansion and land reclamation in the Port means that several other construction companies operate large numbers of dredging vessels as well.
Dredging the Haihe Channel is the responsibility of the Tianjin Municipal Water Management Bureau (天津å¸Âæ°´å¡å±Â), which maintains both navigability and river flow capacity (set at 800 cubic meters). The Water Management dredgers operate from wharves at the Haihe Second Barrier and at the Haihe Tidal Barrier.
Routine icebreaking is usually handled by the Tug & Lighter Company. In case of ice emergencies, the MSA coordinates icebreaking patrols using heavy harbor tugs and dredges. During the frozen winter of 2010âÂÂ11, the Port authorities estimated that there were 16 ships with icebreaking capabilities available, 10 of which belonged to the TTLC. CNOOC Bohai had 24 icebreakers, needed to clear offshore platforms, and also lent two larger icebreakers to the Port.
The Port's main construction and engineering outfit is CCCC First Harbor Engineering (ä¸Â交第ä¸Âèªå¡工ç¨Âå±ÂæÂÂéÂÂå ¬å¸). Four subsidiary companies carry out all forms of project engineering and construction from roads to breakwaters. As of 2010, First Harbor Engineering First Company (the main boat outfit) had a fleet of 74 work vessels. As in the case of dredgers, the sheer scale of construction in the Port means that many other outfits deploy hundreds of vessels. As of 2008, there were 418 construction vessels operating at the Port, including 236 sand barges and fluvial workboats.
The Tianjin Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering is in charge of the technical supervision of most port engineering projects.
Commercial and residential property development in newly reclaimed or repurposed land is one of the four core "industries" of the Port. The Tianjin Port Real Estate Development Company (天津港å°产åÂÂå±ÂæÂÂéÂÂå ¬å¸), founded 2009, is now very active in developing both residential and commercial property on Port land.
The main bunker oil, lubricants, and water provider in Tianjin Port is Tianjin Chimbusco (ä¸Âå½è¹è¶çÂÂæÂÂä¾ÂåºÂ天津堬å¸). Chimbusco China had a monopoly on the supply of bonded bunker oil (i.e. for foreign vessels) in China until 2006. Tianjin Chimbusco (now a TPG subsidiary) retained its exclusive rights in Tianjin until 2009, and the end of the monopoly resulted in a black gold rush of competing bunkerage companies: Sinopec Zhoushan entered the Tianjin market in October 2010, followed in December 2010 by SinoBunker, and in June 2011, China Changjiang Bunker joined. This sudden rise in competition resulted in a serious price war and crashing prices in 2011. Most forms of maritime fuels are available, primarily IFO 180 centistoke and 380 centistoke; IFO 120 centistoke, MDG, MDO, and other diesels are available. Bunkering operations are done by fuel tender, as most berths do not have fueling equipment. Equally, drinking water is mostly delivered by tender.
Several dozen ship chandlers are capable of supplying all necessary deck, engine, cabin stores, and other provisions both at berth or at anchorage. The oldest international chandler is Tianjin Ocean Shipping Supply company (天津å¸Âå¤Âè½®ä¾ÂåºÂå ¬å¸), owned by the Tianjin government. Most spare parts are available locally, and special orders can be flown in easily.
Bilge, slops and ballast water disposal is a major pollution hazard for the Bohai Bay, and it is tightly regulated by the MSA. Only specially authorized enterprises can engage in their removal and disposal or in tank cleanup. Nevertheless, illegal dumping of ballast water is a persistent problem and one of the Port's major law enforcement challenges. Ships carrying oil or liquid chemicals, and all ships over 10,000 gt are required to sign an Agreement for Ship Pollution Response with one of four authorized emergency spill response companies.
Tianjin Port Harbor Service Company (天津港港å£æÂÂå¡堬å¸) is the Group's organic "housekeeping" service, providing cabin, hold and bedding clean-up, and garbage disposal for ships at berth. Other companies are available for all sorts of cleaning, disinfection and deck maintenance, 15 companies are authorized for ship garbage collection.
As the port of a major city, facilities available to crews on shore leave are extensive, if somewhat difficult to reach. The International Seamen's Club (天津æ°港å½é 海åÂÂ俱ä¹Âé¨) is located at Xingang Liumi Road, opposite the Bomesc shipyard. Around two dozen crew management companies provide replacement crews at all times.
Tianjin Port has several ship repair and shipbuilding facilities capable of carrying out almost all forms of ship repair and refitting for all but the largest ships, and those capabilities are increasing rapidly.
The Tanggu port area was one of the earliest modern shipbuilding areas of China. The still-functioning Taku Dockyard (now the Tianjin City Shipyard) was founded in 1880 and is the oldest modern dockyard in Northern China. Many small shipyards operated in the Haihe region, but most have closed in recent years or will soon close to make way for the large development projects of the Binhai Urban Core.
The main ship repair facility in the port is the CSIC Tianjin Xingang Shipyard. Founded in 1939, it is located at the very end of the main harbor basin, right next to the Haihe shiplock. Immediately next to it is the CCCC Bomesc Maritime Industry's facility built in 2007. On the Nanjiang region, Singapore's Sembawang Shipyard entered in 1997 to the first foreign joint shipyard project in China in partnership with Bohai Oil. That shipyard is now the CNOOC Bohai Oil BOHIC subsidiary.
A large number of ship repair companies offer maintenance services at berth, and the Tianjin Wuzhou Marine Service Engineering Co. (天津äºÂ洲海äºÂå·¥ç¨ÂæÂÂéÂÂå ¬å¸) offers anchorage and under-way repairs using its specialized ship Jinyuanhangxiu 1 (æ´¥è¿Âèª修1å·), one of only five such vessels in China.
One of the strategic goals of the port is to increase its high value-added services business, providing advance support for all forms of logistic activities.
The Tianjin International Trade and Shipping Service District (天津 ä¸Âèªè¿ÂæÂÂå¡åº) The Service District is composed of nine high-rise buildings, including the TPG main office building and the International Shipping Service Center.
The Tianjin International Trade and Shipping Service Center (天津å½é 贸æÂÂä¸Âèªè¿ÂæÂÂå¡ä¸Âå¿Â) provides "one-stop" service for all sorts of aspects of shipping and trade, with a core mission of centralizing and streamlining the clearance process. The Center aggregates 270 government service windows from 14 government agencies, including customs, inspection and quarantine, maritime safety, border control, traffic control, maritime court, electronic customs clearance, business taxes, and state audit and supervision.
The Dongjiang shipping services area is still under development, and aims to form a cluster of specific shipping services. Taking advantage of its favorable tax and currency exchange regime, the Dongjiang Bonded Port intends to attract a cluster of enterprises related to the financing of ship leasing and shipbroking and to other forms of shipping financing including offshore financial services, offshore banking, marine insurers and P&I clubs, ship registration, local offices of the leading classification societies, and others.
Engaging a shipping agent is mandatory for all foreign flagged ships, and Tianjin has several dozen such outfits operating at present. The largest agents are Tianjin Penavico (天津å¤Â轮代çÂÂå ¬å¸), owned by TPG, and Tianjin Sinoagent (天津è¹å¡代çÂÂæÂÂéÂÂå ¬å¸), a subsidiary of Tianjin Sinotrans. Agencies have fairly extensive obligations as intermediaries for most paperwork procedures involving TPG, ship operators, or government agencies, as well as their traditional duties of arranging ship supply and cargo handling.
The Tianjin Xingang Passenger Terminal (天津æ°港客è¿Âç«Â) is run by the Tianjin Passenger Company and provides ferry services and coastal cruises. Two main regular ferry lines and one summer-only ferry line leave Tianjin, serviced by a fleet of three Ro-Ro ferry boats. There are two international destinationsâÂÂKobe in Japan and Incheon in South KoreaâÂÂand one national destination, Dalian in Liaoning Province.
The Tianjin Cruise Homeport started operation in the summer of 2010. It is located in the southern tip of the Dongjiang peninsula. The all-services terminal building is a large white GFRC-clad building designed to mimic the flow of white silk on an ocean breeze. It has an annual capacity of 500,000 passengers. At present, the Homeport has two berths capable of accommodating ships up to 220,000 gtâÂÂenough to receive even the largest current cruisers.
There are three large-scale marina projects underway at the Tianjin Port to expand yachting services.
Two companies offer short (30âÂÂ45 minute) boat tours of the harbor, traveling to the end of the Chuanzhadong channel. The first, Tianjin Port Haiyi Travel Service Company (天津港海é¢Âæ è¡Â社堬å¸), a TPG subsidiary, runs the sightseeing boat Haiyi (æµ·é¢Âå·) from the K1 berth of the Passenger Terminal, with capacity for 132 passengers ( as of November 2011). The second, Tianjin Haihe Jinlu Sightseeing Boats Company (天津海河津æ 游è¹堬å¸) operates from the Sightseeing Boats Pier at the other side of the main basin. It runs two ships, the Haijing (æµ·æ¯å·) with capacity for 150 passengers and the Jinhai (津海å·) with capacity for 184 passengers ( as of April 2011).
Storage, transportation, and all forms of logistics processing are the core activity of the Port; a majority of its land surface is dedicated to storage and processing facilities, with several million square kilometers of storage yards, warehouses, and tank farms operated by dozens of enterprises. There are two large-scale purpose-built logistics areas designed to provide support and facilities to the operating logistics outfits.
The chief logistics unit of the Port Group is Tianjin Logistics Development, established in 2009 by merging the Tianjin Port Storage and Distribution Company (天津港货è¿Âå ¬å¸) with other Group logistics assets. TLD runs 1,800,000 square meters of storage yard, with a capacity for 32,000 TEU of containers, and is responsible for the establishment and management of the dry port network and the establishment of intermodal routes, as well as being the principal drayage provider.
Two main sea routes connect the Bohai Bay with the Yellow Sea and the open ocean. These two routes carry the large majority of all traffic in and out of the Bohai Sea and can be very crowded. The main deep-water route (6 nautical miles wide) goes from the Laotieshan Channel (38ð36.1'N, 120ð51.3'E) at a 276ð bearing until reaching a Traffic Separation Scheme south of Caofeidian (38ð48.0'N/118ð45.2'E), and can be quite a crowded waterway. A second main route (3 nautical miles wide westward, 3 nautical miles wide eastward) goes westward from Changshan channel (38ð05.0'N/120ð24.6'E) at a 293.5ð bearing up to a point north of oil platform BZ28-1 (38ð21.0'N/119ð38.5'E), continuing at a 291ð bearing up to the south of Caofedian Head (38ð38.7'N/118ð38.4'N) and then into the Xingang Main Channel.
The three main port areas are fairly poorly connected by road, requiring rather long detours to transport any cargo or equipment between them. While several bridges and tunnels directly linking Dongjiang with Beijiang and Nanjiang areas are projected for future development, these are still in early planning stages. To help relieve this internal bottleneck, the Port introduced a lighter route in April 2010 connecting Nanjiang (N-10 berth) and Beijiang (Tianjin Container Terminal) using one heavy barge (7800 DWT, 200 TEU). Another regular lighter route connecting Beijiang with Dongjiang was established in September 2010.
Two main rail lines (First and Second Port Railroads: è¿Â港ä¸ÂäºÂ线) serve the Beijiang and Nanjiang areas respectively. The Jinji Railway connects these lines as a de facto ring railroad. A web of around 60 kilometers of internal railways goes deep into the wharves and storage yards of the Beijiang area. The Nanjiang area is primarily connected through the Nanjiang Rail Bridge. This bridge was expanded to double-track in 2010 for an annual capacity of 70 million tonnes. A second bridge is under construction. Additionally, a conveyor belt corridor runs parallel to the railway, carrying coal and ore to the Bulk Logistics Center.
The internal roads in the Port carry an enormously heavy, noisy and noisome flow of traffic, and traffic jams are not uncommon at certain bottlenecks. The internal roads at the three main Port areas form a broken grid pattern, the eastâÂÂwest roads connecting with the expressways that feed the port. The main northâÂÂsouth roads are the Yuejin Road transfixing the Container Logistics Center and the Meizhou (Americas) Road in the Dongjiang Area.
The backbone road of the Port is the S11 Haibin Expressway (海滨é«ÂéÂÂ), which runs northâÂÂsouth and roughly represents the Port's western boundary. The main eastâÂÂwest feeder roads are the S40 Jingjintang Expressway (京津å¡Âé«ÂéÂÂ), which merges into the Jingmen road; the S13 Jinbin Expressway (津滨é«ÂéÂÂ) and the G103 Highway, which both merge into the Xingang Fourth Road; and the S30 Jingjin Expressway (京津é«ÂéÂÂ), which becomes the Jishuanggang road and then the Xingang 8th Road into Dongjiang. In the south, the Tianjin Avenue and the S50 Jinpu Expressway (津浦é«ÂéÂÂ) connect into the Nanjiang and Lingang areas.
These feeder roads connect in turn with the thick Beijing-Tianjin road hub, with seven radial expressways from Beijing and four from Tianjin. Of these, the Jinji Expressway (S1) is the main alternative route into Beijing (through Pinggu) and the Northwest (through the 6th Ring Road and the G6 Jingla Expressway), while the G25 Changzhen Expressway is the main northâÂÂsouth connector.
The Port is 30 minutes away from Tianjin Binhai International Airport and 120 minutes from Beijing Capital International Airport. Two small general aviation aerodromesâÂÂTanggu Airport (å¡Âæ²½æºåº) and Binhai Eastern General Heliport (滨海ä¸Âæ¹éÂÂç¨ç´åÂÂæºåº)âÂÂprovide offshore helicopter shuttles and other services to Port operators.
The Tianjin Port Container Logistics Center (天津港éÂÂ裠箱ç©æµÂä¸Âå¿Â) is located in the north part of the Beijiang area, in 7.03 square kilometers of reclaimed land. The Center currently hosts 42 logistics enterprises, and it has 350 hectares of yard space and 26 hectares of warehouses, or about 60% of the Port's container handling capacity. Tianjin Port International Logistics Development (TPL) was established in 2003 to take charge of the development, construction, operation and management of the Center.
The Tianjin Port Bulk Logistics Center (天津港æ£货ç©æµÂä¸Âå¿Â) opened in 2000, built on 26.8 square kilometers of former salt flats to the south of Donggu. It serves as a large storage and distribution area for coal, ore and other bulk cargoes. As of April 2011, there were 268 enterprises operating within it. The Bulk Logistics Center is being progressively relocated south, to the Nangang area, to free its land for urban development (i. e. the Binhai Central New Town â 滨海ä¸Âé¨æ°åÂÂ)
The 12-5 plan envisages six large logistics parks in the port area by 2015: the Container Logistics and Bulk Cargo Centers will be upgraded to "Parks" (with additional policy privileges), joined by the newly established Nangang Chemical Logistics Park (Ã¥ÂÂ港åÂÂå·¥ç©æµÂÃ¥ÂÂåº), Lingang Industrial ProLogis Logistics Park (临港工ä¸Âæ®æ´Âæ¯ç©æµÂÃ¥ÂÂåº), and the Central Fishing Port Logistics Park (ä¸Âå¿Âæ¸Â港ç©æµÂÃ¥ÂÂåº).
The hinterland of the Tianjin Port (as determined by existing railway and road patterns) is vast. It includes the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet and Xinjiang, amounting to over 5 million square kilometers, or 52% of China's area, and covering 17% of the country's population. Tianjin is also one of the railheads of the Eurasian Land Bridge.
TPL owns and operates 15 different scheduled railway routes, dispatching 50-car (100 TEU) trains to 15 different cities in China, including Xi'an, Chengdu, Taiyuan, ÃÂrümqi, Baotou, Shizuishan, Erenhot, Alashankou, and Manzhouli, the last three being border crossings. In the first half of 2011, these dedicated train lines carried 129,000 TEU, including cargoes for Eurasian destinations.
As of October 2011, Tianjin Port had established 21 dry ports, of which eight were fully operational. These ports are located at:
Erenhot and Dulat are border crossings. In 2010, the Tianjin dry ports processed 150,000 TEU worth of containers. The 12th five-year plan envisaged increasing throughput by Tianjin's dry ports to up to 1 million TEU by 2015.