Li Min　Translated　Zhou He

In August 2019, the Chinese government released the Overall Plan for the New Western Sea-Land Transportation Channel, ushering in a new round of upsurge in the construction of the New Western Sea-Land Transportation Channel (hereinafter referred to as the New Sea-Land Channel). During the 16th China-ASEAN Expo, the themes related to the construction of the New Sea-Land Channel have become a major focus of peoples attention. For the China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network (CAPCCN) that has been established for six years, the promotion of the New Sea-Land Channel is not only a new opportunity to strengthen port and shipping cooperation among port cities, but also a new path to expand the linkage between sea and land.

When the CAPCCN meets the New Sea-Land Channel, what kind of sparks will be generated on an international level?

The New Sea-Land Channel, the expectation of ASEAN

“The release of the Overall Plan for the New Western Sea-Land Transportation Channel marked that the Chinese government has put the regional development strategy and cooperation with ASEAN countries into overall consideration, and connected closely 2/3 of Chinas land and 1/3 of its populations prospect and that of ASEAN countries development. It also marked the beginning of the merging of “the Belt” and “the Road” in western China and ASEAN countries,” said Li Muyuan, full-time vice president and secretary-general of China Container Industry Association at the 2019 CAPCCN Work Conference, themed “Expand the CAPCCN, co-built the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor”.

As a matter of fact, with the rising of the influence of the New Sea-Land Channel, more and more ASEAN countries have expressed their expectations for it. Among them, Laos as the only landlocked country in ASEAN pays particular attention to the transportation connectivity brought by the New Sea-Land Channel.

“Transportation connectivity is a prerequisite for Laos to move from a landlocked country to a land-connected country, and it can also help us to build a bridge between the Greater Mekong Sub-region and ASEAN countries.” Viengsavath Siphandone, Deputy Minister for Public Works and Transport of Laos, expressed that Laos could provide more transit routes through linkage of rails and roads with neighboring countries. On the financial side, Laos looks to the private sector, including foreign investors, to participate in the construction of its transportation infrastructure.

As Tamchai Martiondonze from Administrative Office of Laem Chabang Port of Port Authority of Thailand introduced, the Thai government has been speeding up the development of multimodal transportation and actively developing terminal projects in the port, hoping to transform more road transport into railways and waterways. Currently, the investment and construction of the third project of the port are being promoted to enhance the connectivity.

“Sihanoukville Province is ready to cooperate with port cities to strengthen the construction of our facilities and capacity, and we hope to further strengthen the connectivity cooperation with the help of CAPCCN,” said Cheav Vichak, Deputy Governor of Sihanoukville Province.

How to bring “sea” and “l(fā)and” closer

Compared with the existing channel, the New Sea-Land Channel emphasizes the linkage between “l(fā)and” and “sea” and lays more emphasis on the connection between railway and seaport. In the opinion of Feng Boming, chairman of the board of directors of COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited, port cities cannot participate in the construction of the New Sea-Land Channel without the development of the hinterland of inland, namely inland ports.

“The development of the ports and the hinterland is a systematic project that cannot be seen in isolation, because goods are like water, and any obstruction will affect its flow and speed.” From the perspective of shipping, Feng put forward some suggestions on the linkage of land and ports in the New Sea-Land Channel: “The first thing is the interconnection of facilities. It is a common feature of both ASEAN countries and China that the interconnection among various modes of transportation was not well done in the early stage of planning. Some of these were originally due to the insufficient level of engineering technology, some were insufficient funds, and some were natural and geographical environment constraints. As a result, many railways and the surrounding seaports are separated very far. To accomplish effective connection between inland ports and harbors, the first thing is to solve the problem of “l(fā)ast one kilometer”, which is the problem among various transport hubs. And now the most prominent problem is the connection between harbors and railway inland ports or railway freight stations. If this connection can not be achieved and highway trucks are still used, it not only goes against environmental protection, but also puts more burdens to the traffic of cities.”

“The second thing is information connectivity. This involves the mutual recognition of systems of orders in different modes of transport, and the mutual recognition and supervision of import and export customs,” said Feng. “The third thing is channelization. In practice, shippers and markets are not subject to our subjective will, so the design of the channel must be focused on the economy, stability, mass production and environmental protection of the channel. These four aspects must be put into consideration entirely in the design of the channel, otherwise, there will be no vitality in the development of the economy.”

In addition, Feng also suggested that a third-party platform should be set up to connect the whole transportation process and separate the transportation and the network, so as to drive the New Sea-Land Channel to provide more abundant and competitive products for the market.

Yin Lin, deputy director of China Transport Telecommunications and Information Center, also talked about the importance of information connectivity, but he believed that the New Sea-Land Channel as an international channel not only needs to strengthen the information connection between the provinces and regions in China, but also needs to pay attention to the information connection with countries along the route, especially ASEAN countries.

“We suggest that an informationalized mechanism and platform of cross-regions, cross-governments, cross-sectors and cross-transports should be established in the construction of the New Sea-Land Channel in China, through which everyone can jointly realize the interconnection of logistics information and data sharing and weaken information barriers.” Yin said: “The New Sea-Land Channel will also be opened to ASEAN countries. Although we are currently engaged in meaningful discussions and communication with ASEAN countries, in the future, we will build an information-based platform to establish a working mechanism for logistics information with them. Under such a logistics cooperation mechanism, we can build a point-to-multi-points or point-to-point logistics cooperation informatization, which will solve the current problems of high cost and low efficiency in China and ASEANs logistics due to lack of information.”

Port cooperation, the new driving force for the New Sea-Land Channel

Since its establishment in 2013, the CAPCCN has included 39 members, covering major ports of China and ASEAN, and a number of mutual investment and cooperation projects with ASEAN countries have made breakthroughs. At the 2019 Work Conference, the CAPCCN has again accomplished new achievements: China-ASEAN Information Harbor and Shanghai Shipping Exchange signed a strategic cooperation agreement; the ports of Yangon, Myanmar and Beibu Gulf, China concluded an agreement of sister ports and Beibu Gulf Research Institute of the New Sea-Land Channel has been officially established.

Over the past six years, the accumulation of CAPCCN in port cooperation has laid a solid foundation for port cities to participate in the construction of the New Sea-Land Channel. However, port cities should seize their own development opportunities in the construction of the New Sea-Land Channel, because ultimately, its all about port construction and port cooperation itself.

According to Liang Zheng, assistant of Mayor of Fangchenggang, the joint development of port cities in China and ASEAN countries can promote cooperation in industry, agricultural products, seafood, tourism and other resources.

Huang Bo, deputy director of Guangzhou Port Authority put forward four suggestions for port cooperation between China and ASEAN. Firstly, it is important to strengthen the cooperation of ports and liner companies, to push the liner companies to provide more competitive routes between China and ASEAN to satisfy the needs of trades for goods requiring efficiency such as fresh meat and vegetables. Secondly, it is hoped to increase cooperation in passenger transport and tourism between Chinas and ASEANs ports, in addition to cargo transport. Thirdly, its also vital to further strengthen personnel training and exchanges between Chinas and ASEANs ports. For example, Guangzhou port and Belgiums Antwerp have established the Guangzhou-Antwerp Port Training Center. Up to now, the center has carried out five batches of training for some ASEAN ports, including ports of Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and other countries. Fourthly, it is also hoped to promote more substantial cooperation in the investment, construction and operation of ports and the construction and operation of logistics parks through platforms like CAPCCN.

With the increasing cooperation between port cities and ports, the marine vitality in the New Sea-Land Channel is expected to be further released.