The China Story

The hammering and digging begin at sunrise and last well beyond sunset. Beneath the dust and dirt, Shanghai is making ready for its quest to become an international financial centre and shipping hub by 2020. Gazing at the iconic view of the Bund and the Pudong skyline across the Huangpu River, it is not hard to understand why Shanghai is a natural choice as a maritime hub. Ideally located on China’s east coast and the major East West trade routes, Shanghai serves as a major transportation hub for the Yangtze River Delta and is China’s most important gateway for foreign trade. Marine Money trotted to this magnificent city last week to understand the current challenges faced by the Chinese shipping community.

Much has been written in the press on the central government’s aggressive support for the shipyards, highlighting concerns that the excessive state financial intervention could endanger the commercial viability of many ocean shipping companies going forward. The government is well aware of the problem of overcapacity in the shipping sector, but at the same time, it simply cannot allow her core shipyards to fail. The economic and social costs will be too overwhelming to manage. But if we take a closer look, many measures introduced by the central government in reality are largely tailored for the more established shipyards and very few financial incentives have been rolled out for either the small and medium local shipowners or the smaller shipyards.

This is only an excerpt of The China Story

Content is restricted to subscribers. To continue reading please Log-In or view our subscription options.

Existing Users Login
Username
Password

Related Archive Files

• No Related Post