Yangshan Port
Yangshan Port, formally the Yangshan Deep-Water Port, is an offshore deep-water port for containerization in Hangzhou Bay south of Shanghai, China, built on land reclamations of the [People's Republic of China|land reclamation] joining the Lesser Yangshan Island with numerous other nearby islands of the northwestern Zhoushan archipelago. It is connected to Shanghai's Pudong New Area on the mainland by the Donghai Bridge, forming part of the Port of Shanghai, while the other islands of Yangshan archipelago are administered separately as part of Zhejiang's Shengsi County.
Yangshan Port is part of China's Maritime Silk Road, built to allow the Port of Shanghai to grow despite shallow waters near the shore. Prior to its construction, the Port of Shanghai was predominantly based around the mouth of the Huangpu River, which is too shallow to handle large container ships, forcing the port to often perform mid-stream operations within the Yangtze estuary, which often had to wait for the high tide hours, severely restricting the port's capacity. The construction of Yangshan Port allows berths with depths of up to to be built, and can handle today's largest container ships. In mid-2011, port officials said the port was on track to move 12.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units during the year, up from 10.1 million TEUs in 2010, overtaking Port of Singapore to become the world's busiest container port. In 2015, the port handled 36.54 million TEUs, and by 2019, its throughput had increased to 43.35 million TEU.
Construction phases
In 2000 and 2001, the decision was made to commence construction on the first of four phases. The first two phases have nine berths in total along a quayside. The first phase, which opened in 2004, can accommodate 2.2 million containers annually and includes 10 quay cranes. The second phase was opened in December 2006, and comprises with 15 quay cranes. The third phase, opened in stages, was completed in 2010 with seven berths.The fourth phase, which began trial operation on Dec. 10, 2017, will add 4 million Twenty-foot equivalent units to the port's annual capacity.
The total cost of building the port may reach US$12 billion over 20 years.
When complete, the port will have 30 berths capable of handling 15 million TEUs annually.