THE Hebei provincial government has introduced a new guidance for port development in the province adjacent to Beijing, reports SinoShipNews.

The province aims to develop Tangshan Port as a shipping centre, which will be supported by another two ports - Huanghua Port and Qinhuangdao Port. The Wikipedia entry says Tangshan is "one of the fastest growing ports in the world".

The Port of Tangshan, a two hour drive south east from Beijing, is an artificial deep-water international seaport on the coast of Tangshan Municipality.

It is composed of three separate port areas - Jingtang, Caofeidian and Fennan - administered separately but considered to be the same port for statistical purposes.

The guidance has set the target of completing 1.2 billion tons of cargo throughput and 7 million TEU annually by 2017 and increase the number to 1.5 billion tons and 10 million TEU respectively by 2020.

Qinhuangdao Port Group established a joint venture, Bohai Port Investment with Tianjin Port Group in August to further development.