The daily capacity of water supply is 915,000 tons, ensuring abundant potential supplies for both domestic and industrial use in Xiamen Special Economic Zone. 99.9% of drinking water meet requirements. Water hardness: 5.6 degree (Germany Standard)

Water Transport of 2000

The construction of waterways was coming to perfection and the construction of "marine expressways" was speeded up. The first phase of 100,000-ton waterways of Xiamen bay was completed and put into use. An anchor ground of 28 square kilometers was added. The construction of management system for ships was progressing well and laid a "software environment" for the around-the-clock service of Xiamen Port. All had created favorable conditions for replenishment, shelter and maintenance of ships across the Taiwan Straits. In 1999, a total of 333 million RMB went to the port construction and improvement. For the whole year, the volume of cargos handled reached 17.7338 million tons, the first place in Fujian and the 13th in China, an increase of 8.17%. The volume of containers handled amounted to 848,500 TEUs, 66.9% of the 1.2683 million TEUs in Fujian, the first place in Fujian and the 6th place in China, a year-on-year increase of 29.78%. Pilot direct sailings to Taiwan resulted in a total volume of containers reaching 327,200 TEUs, 38.56% of the total containers handled in Xiamen and an increase of 39.2%. The number of passengers handled reached 305,800, an increase of 6.96%. The number of passengers arriving from abroad and leaving for other countries and regions amounted to 68,800, a decrease of 25.93%.

The port construction vitalized the shipping industry. Currently, there were 26 domestic and international shipping companies among which 16 were engaged in inter-province service with 17 ships with a handling capacity of 2982 TEUs or 576,800 tons. There were two oceanic routes ( to west America, Europe and Mediterranean) with 24 sailings per month. There were also 25 sailings to Taiwan and 92 sailings to Hong Kong per month. There were also feeder container routes to Fuzhou and Ningbo. All routes had 210 sailings per month.

By the end of 1999, there were 604 motor ships with a total power of 261,500 kilowatts and a capacity of 13200 passengers and freights with a net weight of 656,700 tons. Among them, there were 65 ocean liners and 539 domestic coastal liners and 304 ships were owned by individuals or township enterprises. The number of passengers ships totaled 91, among which one was ocean liner with 609 seats; 90 were domestic coastal liners with 4334 seats. There were 238 ships involved in both the domestic freight and passenger business with a total loading capacity of 3216 tons and a handling capacity of 8305 passengers. There were 270 cargo ships with net loading capacity of 637,700 tons or 2904 TEUs. There were 207 ships sailing between domestic coastal ports with a loading capacity of 163,400 tons. Among the ships for special purposes, there were 47 oil tankers with a total loading capacity of 260,000 tons, from which 8 were ocean tankers of 7192 tons with a total loading capacity of 10,100 tons and the rest were sailings between Xiamen and other coastal ports. There were 24 container ships of 42,200 tons with a capacity of 2904 TEUs. There were 5 towboats of 1153 tons with a power of 6853 kilowatts, among which one was ocean towboat of 193 tons with a power of 721 kilowatts. There were 25 water transport service companies and 33 shipyards or maintenance companies. The improvement in port construction and the healthy development of navigation industry had created favorable conditions for Xiamen to becom a major city in China.