>> Qingdao: In Qingdao four ports in East China's Shandong province recently signed a strategic alliance with the largest port of the Republic of Korea (ROK), Qingdao Port of Shandong announced in a press release.
The alliance is jointly formed by Shandong's Qingdao Port, Yantai Port, Rizhao Port, Weihai Port and the ROK's Port of Busan, aiming to build a shipping and logistics center in Northeast Asia.
The five ports agreed that they would mutually provide prompt and effective services for freight and passengers. They will also promote transit transport via the development of the Eurasian continental bridge and boost the links between bonded areas in Shandong and Busan Free Trade Zone.
With the agreement, the five ports will focus on the development of automobile freight transportation via sea and land, as well as the development of luxury cruises.
In 2010 the throughput capacity amounted to 925 million tons by the four ports in Shandong. Busan Port is the largest one in ROK, which handled 14,183,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2010, 74% of the total in ROK.
In November 2010 the five ports signed a frame agreement for strategic alliance, with the hope to integrate mutual logistics cooperation and plans to utilize technologies involving low carbon emissions and information to reduce operational costs.
