Brunei, China Plan Port Cooperation
By Shareen Han and Khairunnisa Ibrahim

Bandar Ser Begawan - Port capabilities are among the key areas that Brunei and China are hoping to cooperate and promote in developing both countries' maritime services and tourism industry.

Lian You Nong, Mayor- of Beihai Municipal People's Government, said one of the purposes of the visit of his entourage from Beihai, a Chinese city in Guangxi province, was to establish port linkages between both countries.

Speaking to the media during a dinner hosted by the BruneiChina Friendship Association last night, he said Beihai port serves as the "major gateway" to other countries in the Asean region.

A total of "100 million tonnes of cargoes were handled at the Beihai port last year," he said.

According to the Beihai government's website, the annual handling capacity of the container-berth was designed for 50,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit, a measure of containerized cargo capacity).

Beihai, situated in the northeast of Beihai Gulf in the South China Sea, is the earliest foreign trading port and one of the famous starting ports of the Marine Silk Route and an international trading port in Southwest China Beihai port has already become one of the largest non-metal ore delivery ports of Southwest China.

The port of Beihai owns eight railway tracks that connect warehouses, wharfs in the traffic networks of China.

Beihai Port, consisting of old and new port areas, has nine berths with a' total length of 1210m.

The Brunei Economic Development Board is currently establishing the Pulau Muara Besar port project, which is estimated to require approximately US$1.5 billion ($2.29 billion) in total investment and has the potential to create 4,000 permanent jobs directly related to the port activities. Lian and his delegation of

10 are on a three-day visit to Brunei. They are departing Brunei for the Philippines today.  -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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