Guangdong port economic zone focusing on enhancing international partnerships

As one of the country's first coastal open cities, Zhanjiang in South China's Guangdong province is resolutely focused on expanding and enhancing its heavy and petrochemical industries, marine engineering equipment, marine ranching and coastal tourism in an effort to establish a world-class port-based industrial cluster.

Recent strategic moves by the city include ramping up investment promotion and expediting construction of its port economic zone. In November 2024, the provincial government unveiled a comprehensive construction plan for the zone, spanning an area of 148.81 square kilometers, with a development strategy focusing on four key sectors: electronic information; new materials; light industry textiles; and agricultural product import processing. They will be supported by industries such as new energy, marine engineering equipment, shipping logistics and cross-border trade services, forming a modern industrial ecosystem centered around export processing.

The plan also underscores that the port economic zone will harness the advantages of local gigantic projects like Baosteel, the Zhongke refinery and petrochemical project, and BASF's Verbund site.

Zhanjiang Port, one of China's 25 main coastal ports, can handle 400,000-dead-weight tonnage ships. CHINA DAILY

For example, BASF decided to establish the Verbund project in Zhanjiang in 2022, with a total investment of approximately 10 billion euros ($10.7 billion). Once operational, it will stand as BASF's third-largest integrated production base globally. The core installation of this project is expected to commence production by the end of this year.

Ding Li, an economic researcher at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, believes that Zhanjiang's future development prospects hinge on transforming the resource advantages brought by these major projects into tangible local economic benefits.

By 2030, Zhanjiang's port economic zone is projected to gather a cluster of key enterprises, positioning itself as a prime destination for domestic and international industrial relocation and a model for international capacity cooperation.

"We must approach construction of the port economic zone with a sense of urgency and responsibility, accelerating its progress to make Zhanjiang a pivotal growth hub within the modern coastal economic belt and as a provincial sub-central city," said Yu Gang, the city's Party secretary. He emphasized that building the port economic zone represents a significant opportunity for the city to achieve leapfrog development.

Yu highlighted the need to bolster leading industries such as steel and petrochemicals to accelerate growth of the port-based industrial cluster. He said enhancing external industrial partnerships, particularly with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and transforming the Guangdong-ASEAN international cooperation industrial park into a hub for export processing and services are priorities.