Wuhan’s Export-oriented Economy Is Thriving

By Cheng Rongxing, Li Yun & Lv Zuowu

In 2017, Wuhan New Port achieved its annual throughput of 1.2 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) a month ahead of its schedule.Its monthly throughput reached 130,300 TEUs,breaking the monthly record of 130,000 TEUs. All this indicates that Wuhan New Port plays a pivotal role in the upper and middle Yangtze River range.

Wuhan New Port accounts for over 80% of the exported and imported cargoes in Hubei. Container transportation with high additional value has always been listed as the index for Hubei’s exportoriented industrial development. The impressive performances of Wuhan New Port, China (Wuhan)-Europe Railway, and Tianhe Airport demonstrate that Hubei’s export-oriented economy is growing in leaps and bounds.

In 2017 Wuhan New Port Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone started its operation, shorting down the customs clearance time from 3 days to 2 hours which greatly improves the export and import efficiency of goods, widens the business scope of relevant firms, and optimizes the services for shipping and foreign trade firms. As a result,more and more supplies of container goods will be attracted to Wuhan New Port.

After the new terminal of Wuhan Tianhe Airport began operation in September, 2017, the international freight volume has been rising steadily,with an increase of 10% when compared to the same period of the previous year. In October, Tianhe Airport set up its first airport city cargo terminal in Hubei, based on the East Lake Comprehensive Bonded Zone. That way, the international cargoes of companies in Optics Valley could be delivered or received very conveniently. Tianhe Airport is planning to start direct Wuhan-Europe and Wuhan-America cargo flights to offer service to more exportoriented firms.

In 2017, many of the world’s top 500 firms and well-known international enterprises flocked to Wuhan one after another. At the Foreign Investment Promotion Conference in September, 36 senior executives from the world’s top 500 companies signed seven major contracts with Wuhan Government, reaching 3.383 billion dollars.

Currently, Wuhan’s work on foreign investment,foreign trades, foreign outsourcing production,foreign economic cooperation, and foreign affairs is trending toward linked and integrated development.

With the development of the international logistics corridor, Wuhan’s export and import business is bound to grow more rapidly. The links between various cities and provinces in central China and all parts of the world will become more frequent. And Wuhan as an international metropolis will surely attract more foreign investment and businesses with its unique charm and growing reputation worldwide. (Translation: Liu Jie)

2017年 集裝箱吞吐量提前一個月完成120萬標箱的年度任務，并且月吞吐量13.03萬標箱，首次突破單月吞吐量13萬標箱的紀錄。武漢新港長江中上游樞紐港地位得到進一步鞏固。

武漢新港承擔湖北省80%以上的外貿進出口貨物運輸，尤其是高附加值的集裝箱運輸，一直被視為湖北外向型產業發展景氣度的風向標。它與中歐武漢班列、天河機場等國際運輸大通道今年以來的強勁表現，說明湖北外向型經濟正不斷向好，實現跨越式發展。

2017年，武漢新港空港綜保區封關運營，使國際貿易通關時間由3天縮短至2小時，提高貨物進出口效率，拓寬進出口企業的業務范圍，優化對航運、外貿企業的服務流程，將更多集裝箱貨源吸引到武漢。

2017年9月，武漢天河機場新航站樓啟用后，拉動國際貨運量持續增長，同比增幅超過10%。10月，天河機場在東湖綜保區口岸作業區建立湖北省首個機場城市貨站，光谷企業的空港國際貨運在家門口就可以收發貨。下一步，天河機場還將開通武漢直達到歐洲和美洲的全貨運航線，為更多外向型企業提供服務。

2017年，世界500強與全球知名外企紛至沓來。在9月的外資商會專場上，36位世界500強高管集中與武漢簽約7個重大項目，簽約金額33.83億美元。

武漢外資、外貿、外經、外包和外事工作正呈現出聯動融合發展態勢。

隨著國際物流通道大開發，武漢外貿進出口業務必將更快速增長。華中各省市與世界各地貿易往來將會更加頻繁，武漢的國際形象也將魅力大增，成為外資企業來華投資興業的熱土。