While China's demand for crude oil in the post-pandemic era has become an important driver for the international market despite short-time crunches, the port construction is now in full swing to better support the economic development.
In the first half of 2023, the throughput of domestic ports totaled 8.19 billion tonnes, an increase of 8% from last year, according to China's Ministry of Transport. Meanwhile, China imported 43.69 million tonnes of crude oil in July, up 17% year on year despite a monthly fall of 18.8% from June when the imports recorded a near-term high, per General Administration of Customs. The imports amounted to 325.97 million tonnes year-to-date, a yearly jump of 12.46%.
Sources: General Administration of Customs, Mysteel
Therefore, since China's crude oil import market has been quite animated post the pandemic era, the port construction is key to support such momentum, with major projects in the pipeline.
Shandong Provincial Government recently issued the Three-Year Action Plan to Build Shandong into World-Class Port Cluster (2023-2025) in early August, according to which the coastal ports' throughput of goods shall reach 2 billion tonnes by 2025, or 40 million standard containers. Especially, the Qingdao Port will be the heart of this cluster, with Rizhao Port and Yantai Port being the side wings, supported by Weihai Port, Weifang Port, Dongying Port and Binzhou Port.
Earlier, Cangzhou Port Group, located in Hebei Province, also disclosed its investment attracting plan, which covered port construction, energy storage, and others with a total investment of Yuan 10.06 billion.
In detail, two 300,000-tonne crude carrier berths will be built during the second phase of the crude oil terminal project of Huanghua Port, supported by auxiliary facilities like oil tanks, which is able to receive 30 million tonnes crude oil per year. The third phase will accommodate one 300,000-tonne crude carrier berth and auxiliary facilities, with an annual crude oil capacity of 15 million tonnes.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com