Dalian

The Port of Dalian is located at the southern end of the Liaodong Peninsula on the Yellow Sea in southern Liaoning Province in northeastern China. About 470 kilometers southeast of Beijing and 80 nautical miles north-northeast, across the Yellow Sea, from the Port of Yantai, the Port of Dalian has an ice-free natural deep-water harbor. It occupies an important strategic position at the entrance to the Gulf of Chihli, commanding maritime access to the Port Tianjin. In 2002, almost 2.2 million people lived in the Port of Dalian.

A busy industrial center, the Port of Dalian is the biggest shipping center in China, and it supports a large fishing fleet. In addition to its port, Dalian is an important rail terminus with direct access to the nation’s highway network and a major international airport with regular flights to Japan and Korea. The Port of Dalian is home to ship builders and locomotive manufacturers, and it has a thriving manufacturing sector that produces machines, chemicals, electronics, textiles, and petroleum products. High technology, finance, and services are also growing in importance to the local economy.

Main businesses include the following terminals and their related logistics services:

  • oil and liquefied chemicals terminal,
  • container terminal,
  • automobile terminal,
  • ore terminal,
  • general cargo terminal,
  • bulk grain terminal,
  • passenger and roll-on/roll-off terminal, and
  • Port value-added services and operations.

The Port of Dalian includes several different port areas: Daliangang, Dalianwan, Nianyuwan, Xianglujiao, Ganjinzi, Si’ergou, Heizuizi, and Dayaowan. The state-owned Dalian Port Corporation Limited owns and manages the Port of Dalian.

In March 2012, the China Daily reported that the Port of Dalian was the 19th busiest container port in the world. Container throughput in the Port of Dalian grew by 15% in 2010 and by 21.1% in 2011. In 2011, the Port of Dalian reached an all-time high of 10 million TEUs of containerized cargo.

The deep-water Port of Dalian, located in the Northeast Asian economic zone, is silt- and ice-free throughout the year. Founded in 1899, the Port of Dalian is China’s most northern ice-free port. This multi-purpose port serves the Pacific Rim, East Asia, and North Asia. It is mainland China’s second busiest container hub. It is linked with over 300 ports in 160 countries across the world, and the Port of Dalian handles more than 100 million tons of cargo per year.

Located on the Yellow Sea, the Port of Dalian covers 85.5 acres (346 square kilometers) of water surface and 3.7 thousand acres (15 square kilometers) of land area. The Port of Dalian is equipped with 160 kilometers (258 miles) of railway, 74 acres (300 thousand square meters) of warehouses, almost 445 million acres (1.8 million square kilometers) of stacking yards, and more than one thousand pieces of equipment and machinery for loading/unloading cargo.

The Port of Dalian contains a total of 80 berths (38 of which are deep-water berths than can accommodate vessels greater than 10 thousand DWT) handling containers, crude oil, petroleum products, grain, bulk ores, coal, and roll-on/roll-off cargoes. The Port of Dalian is home to Northeast China’s biggest crude oil dock with capacity to handle 80 million tons per year.

 

Container terminals

The Port of Dalian’s Container Terminal handles the vast majority of foreign trade that moves through Northeast China. It can accommodate container ships with capacity for 141 thousand TEUs. The Port of Dalian is Northeast China’s most important container port. It operates 85 domestic and international container routes and is responsible for over 90% of transshipments of foreign trade containers.

The Dalian Container Terminal (DCT) is a joint venture between the Port of Dalian and PSA. DCT has capacity to handle 2.3 million TEUs of containerized cargo per year and has long been recognized as one of the best container terminals in Asia. The state-of-the-art Dalian Port Container Terminal Company (DPCM) Limited is a global container terminal. Maersk Group has six container berths with total annual capacity for three million TEUs. A joint venture between Dagang China Shipping Terminal, Nippon Yusen joint investment and China Shipping Terminals, the Dalian International Container Terminal Company Limited (DICT) is located on Dayao Bay.

The Port of Dalian’s DCT, DPCM, and DICT have a total of 13 berths with alongside depths from 9.8 to 16 meters (32.2 to 52.5 feet) and capacity to handle mover five million TEUs per year. Six of these berths can accommodate 10-thousand TEU ships.

The Port of Dalian’s DCT has a 740-thousand square meter (183-acre) yard with capacity for one-time storage of up to 49 thousand TEU. The DPCM has a 255-thousand square meter (63-acre) yard with one-time capacity to store 25 thousand TEUs. The Port of Dalian’s DICT has one-time capacity to store 50 thousand TEUs.

 

Bulk and breakbulk terminals

The Port of Dalian has a high-efficiency wharf for loading/unloading up to 40-ton bulk ore ships. The General Cargo Terminal in the Port of Dalian is a major transshipment center for bulk cargoes in Northeast china. The Port of Dalian’s wharf handling bulk grains is one of Northeast China’s most competitive transit centers for distribution of foodstuffs.

The Port of Dalian was born handling bulk and general cargoes, and these cargoes are handled in six port areas. The Port of Dalian cargo terminal covers land area of four square kilometers (988 acres). The Port of Dalian cargo terminal 28 has annual capacity to handle as much as 20 million tons of cargo. The depots cover 1.37 million square meters (over 338 acres) including warehouse space of 300 thousand square meters (74 acres).

The Port of Dalian cargo terminal has more than 300 pieces of equipment and machinery that includes 45-ton and 40-ton gantry cranes, a 50-ton tire crane, and state-of-the-art handling machinery and equipment. Annual throughput of bulk and general cargoes that include grain, steel, coal, timber, and non-mining ores in the Port of Dalian has exceeded 1700 tons.

The collection and distribution functions of the Port of Dalian cargo terminal are served by the port railway which is connected to the major regional rail lines. More than 80% of the cargo is transported by rail.

The Bulk Grain Terminal in the Port of Dalian is one of six centers developed by the Dalian Port Group as a major distribution center for import and export of grains for Northeast China and Inner Mongolia. While grain transshipments are its major business, the terminal also handles groceries, cement, steel, and coal.

The Port of Dalian’s Ganjingzi port area is adjacent to the central grain reserves in the Port of Dalian Depot, and it has dedicated rail service with the Ganjingzi railway. The Ganjingzi port area of the Port of Dalian has eight berths with total length of 1664 meters (5.5 thousand feet) and alongside depths from 14.6 to 5.5 meters (47.9 to 18 feet).

Three multi-purpose berths in the Port of Dalian’s Ganjingzi port area are a total of 851 meters (2.8 thousand feet) long with alongside depths of 14.6 and 12.1 meters (47.9 and 39.7 feet). These three berths have capacity for 6.5 million tons of bulk grains (up to two million tons), groceries, and general cargoes. The remaining berths handle coal, bulk grains, cement, and groceries. The Ganjingzai port area in the Port of Dalian also contains six yards with total capacity for almost 1.5 million tons of cargo.

The Dalian Port Ore Terminal Company is located on the Dagushan Peninsula. It is home to dedicated ore loading/unloading berths with alongside depth of 23 meters (75.5 feet). The 30-million-ton capacity ore wharf is equipped with a 64-ton grab ship unloader that can move 2500 tons per hour. The Ore Terminal yard covers 372 thousand square meters (almost 92 acres) and has capacity for stockpiling five million tons of ore.

 

Oil / Liquid terminals

The Port of Dalian is home to Asia’s most modern bulk liquid chemical terminals. The Port of Dalian’s oil terminal companies handle crude oil, refined oil, and liquid chemicals. Terminal functions include loading/unloading, warehousing, and distribution of products by pipeline, highway, and rail.

The Dalian Harbour Liquid Tank Terminal Company Limited is a joint venture between Norway’s Oder Phil Corporation and the Dalian Port Group. Its primary cargoes are liquid chemical products.

The oil terminal in the Port of Dalian has total capacity for almost four million cubic meters (25.1 million US barrels) of liquid cargoes. Its 35 crude oil storage tanks have total capacity for 3.5 million cubic meters (22 million US barrels). Thirty-nine refined oil storage tanks can handle 368 thousand cubic meters (2.3 million US barrels). The Port of Dalian’s 51 liquid chemical storage tanks have capacity for 119.7 thousand cubic meters (753 thousand US barrels).