Up and up

Up and up

Shenzhen, the thriving special economic zone in southern China neighbouring Hong Kong, is proposing to spend $3.6 billion to upgrade its port and airport facilities. The regional government plans to set aside 15.65 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) for development of its container terminals at Yantian, Shekou, Mawan and Dachanwan over the next few years. A similar amount will also be set aside to improve its airport, including construction of a second runway. Shenzhen racked up foreign trade worth more than $20 billion in the first six months of 2002, up 17 per cent over the previous year. Foreign trade cargo accounted for about 58 per cent of the almost 60 million tons handled at the Port of Shenzhen in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 43.6 per cent over 2001. It is estimated that Shenzhen will this year handle 7 million TEUs, a jump of 2 million TEUs from the year-ago. Shenzhen terminals processed 5.5 million TEUs in the first nine months of this year, up 52 per cent from 2001.