Jianghaizhida I, China's first homemade ship that can navigate both sea and rivers. [Photo/WeChat Account: zjzsrbs]
Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province has made strides in the development of the modern marine industry in the past decade.
The city's marine economic value added increased from 44.3 billion yuan ($6.31 billion) to 115.9 billion yuan over the past 10 years, with the proportion in its GDP rising from 64.2 percent to 68 percent. Zhoushan has become one of the prefecture-level cities with the largest marine economies in China.
The sea-river combined transportation pattern has bolstered the growth of the marine economy in Zhoushan. Since the maiden voyage of the Jianghaizhida I, China's first homemade ship which can navigate both on sea and rivers, in Zhoushan in 2018, the total shipping capacity of such cargo vessels in the city has reached 76,000 metric tons.
Zhoushan is expected to increase the number of such vessels to 12 in 2022, achieving a total shipping capacity of 180,000 tons in sea-river combined transportation.
To date, the cargo throughput of Zhoushan Port has exceeded 600 million tons, and deadweight capacity has increased to 8.33 million tons. The number of shipping enterprises in Zhoushan has reached more than 600, ranking first among coastal cities in China.
Four local shipping firms have also made the list of the world's top 10 largest shipyards. And the production of distant ocean fisheries in Zhoushan has reached 676,000 tons, accounting for 22 percent of national production.
In 2021, Zhoushan Port achieved a throughput of 133 million tons of oil, natural gas and products, ranking first in China. With the application of hydrogen energy, Liuheng Island, the third largest island in Zhoushan, will be built into a demonstration pilot of the hydrogen energy industrial chain.
Based on the development of hydrogen energy, Zhoushan has put efforts into the clean energy industry, including photovoltaic power, wind power, hydrogen energy, energy storage equipment manufacturing and blue carbon.
In May, the East China Sea Laboratory was upgraded to the provincial level, making Zhoushan the fourth prefecture-level city with a provincial-level lab.
