GUANGZHOU government has announced that the city will spend CNY25 million (US$4.08 million) on raising Guangzhou port's container throughput to 16 million TEU and 400 million tonnes of cargo overall to turn the port into one of the world's top 12 ports.

Guangzhou also plans to launch 120 new container shipping services. Seventy of them will serve foreign trade lanes covering more than 450 ports in the world. On the other hand, the city will develop port- and shipping-related services to double the industry's added value in 2012 to CNY120 billion.

Meanwhile, Guangzhou Port Group will break into the top 200 players list of the domestic service industry with a total assets value of more than CNY35 billion. The government will also give support to Guangzhou Port Group in a bid to be listed, said Xinhua.