Taiwan Carriers in Joint Service

CO-OPERATING together for the first time, three of Taiwan's leading carriers, Evergreen, Wan Hai and Yang Ming are to launch a new container service linking North China with Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. In so doing, the three companies will provide much needed additional capacity between North China and the Straits as well as complementing existing feeder links by interfacing with the lines' deep sea services in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The service will employ three ships on a 21-day round-trip schedule with the following port rotation: Xingang - Qingdao - Singapore - Port Kelang - Hong Kong (mid-stream) - Xingang.

The first sailing in this new service will be made by Evergreen's 1,618TEU Uni-Prosper from Xingang on 27 September, followed by Yang Ming's 1,512TEU YM Fukuoka and Wan Hai's 1,439TEU Arabian Express.

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China Further Liberalizes Trade with Hong Kong

According to a September 10 article in The Straits Times, China has recently expanded the scope of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) it signed with Hong Kong in June 2003. With the existing pact having failed to increase bilateral trade as much as anticipated, Beijing has agreed to liberalize access for more goods and services from the special administrative region it reclaimed from the United Kingdom in 1997. Specifically, the article said, China will (a) beginning January 1, 2006, allow duty-free entry to 184 categories of goods not currently produced in Hong Kong, (b) ease entry requirements for 11 of 18 service sectors that already have access to the mainland, and (c) effective January 1, 2005, grant preferential access for eight new services

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China Ranks Second in Shipping

A recent market survey conducted by the Standard Pool Company shows that China is now the world's second biggest shipping country, handling 10 million standard containers annually.

Experts said that the shipping industry has registered a dramatic increase over the past decade, of which the growth rate exceeded that of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Being a major Asian trader, China has benefited from the rapid development of shipping and has greatly improved its container ports.

China has three ports, which are in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Ningbo, whose annual handling capacity reaches 100 million tons each.

The other main container ports, such as Shenzhen, Dalian and Tianjin, also saw substantial development in the past ten years.

International maritime researchers predicted that the handling capacity of China's container ports will be the highest in Asia in the next 15 years.

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House Bill would counter China Textile Threat

WASHINGTON -- Legislation was introduced by a group of House Democrats that they said would address problems anticipated by the end of international textile and apparel quotas in January.

The “Textiles and Apparel China Safeguard Act” states that the U.S. textile industry would not have to wait until the effects of unlimited Chinese imports are realized. The legislation would clarify that the domestic industry could file threat-based claims to preempt economic injury. It also would direct the president to negotiate a comprehensive, bilateral, textiles and apparel agreement with China

The WTO agreement allows members to negotiate bilateral agreements with China to avoid the type of market disruptions that are predicted.

The legislative proposal also would direct the president, if China does not agree to negotiations, to impose import restraints for all products that are currently under quota. A letter outlining the proposal and criticizing the Presidents administration for not acting to head off the threat China poses was signed by nine members of the House Democratic leadership and stated: "Your administration's continued inaction threatens the U.S. textile and apparel industries."

Press reports are that the administration has tentatively indicated that it will attempt to discuss this critical issue with China this week. The House Democratic leadership further stated: “What are needed are not informal discussions, but concrete steps as part of a comprehensive action plan."

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Major Bonded Area to be Built in Xinjiang

A MAJOR bonded area covering five-square kilometres is to be developed in China's second largest railway customs checkpoint at Alashankou in Xinjinag, according to Xinhua. The bonded area will provide warehousing facilities and a wide range of logistics services including container loading and unloading, and will be built under a CNY150 million (US$18.12 million) joint venture involving the Alashankou Customs Check Point Administration Committee and four companies. The report said under the plan, an area adjacent to the customs checkpoint will be set aside for the processing industry. The Alashankou Customs Checkpoint is the second largest of its kind on the mainland, handling 90 per cent of the foreign trade that passes through Xinjiang