The Chinese port of Ningbo isworking well below capacity despite being only 130 miles from
Shanghai, which is seriously congested, a port official said.
    Jiang Feng Xiang said the port -- the deepest in China --
handled 17.95 mln tonnes of cargo last year, up from 10.44 mln
in 1985, but well below its potential capacity of 32 mln
tonnes. Shanghai handled 100 mln tonnes of cargo in 1986.
    Jiang said Ningbo is under-utilised because of its
inadequate facilities, including a single track rail line
linking it to Hangzhou, where it joins the national network.
    Ningbo handles crude oil exports and transhipments of coal
from north to south China and imports include fertiliser and
soda ash and iron ore from Brazil and Australia. The docks can
handle ships of up to 150,000 tonnes and oil tankers of up to
200,000 tonnes can load and unload in the harbour.
    Most of Ningbo's port infrastructure has been built since
1979, official publications show. A container berth and two
timber and three general cargo berths will be added during the
current 1986-90 five-year plan, Jiang said.
    "The rail line to Hangzhou will be double tracked by 1995.
By 2000, maybe, we will overtake Shanghai," he added.
 REUTER
